Nothing is worse than opening a parcel of goods you've ordered only to find that the supplier has sent you the wrong thing or the wrong size.  Make sure you aren't that supplier!  Your customer's order tells you what they want.  Make sure you can give it to them, or if not some explanation as to why not or how and when you will deliver the goods.  If you are very small company , you might want to combine picking and packing at the same time, but you still need to consider the picking process.

We look at Stock Control later, but the picking process is simplified if you have your goods in clearly marked and labelled locations (boxes, crates, etc.)  Your (TOPS © software) system will provide you with a 'picklist' which tells you for each order the product lines, and the quantity.  If it can tell you which bin or location the goods are in then so much the better.  Normally for a small business this isn't that important.   

Your system should provide you with a set of picklists for that day or batch of orders, and a summary sheet .  Work your way through the list methodically, and make sure you tick off the orders on the summary sheet as you pick them!  Any discrepancies can be noted on the summary sheet, and on the individual picklists.  Your picking list may include the packaging to be used as well.

As you pick the order keep all the goods together in a basket or container and when you've finished that order put the pick list in with the goods.  The picklist is included in the package so that

• As you pack, you (or the packer) can check that everything is there
• the customer can check  that you delivered what they ordered

The summary sheet is then saved / filed so if you have any queries you can refer back to it.  If you are using a computer-based system such as TOPS © this sheet can then be fed back into the system, which can automatically send an email to the customer telling them that their order is being processed.