Know what is in the warehouse, on which shelf and in which batch

Knowing how many units you have is no longer enough; you need to know which shelf they sit on, which batch they belong to and when they expire. A count kept in a spreadsheet goes stale the moment a product changes hands. One pallet put on the wrong shelf turns into an “out of stock” error when the order is picked, and a two-hour search that evening.

How many separate apps does this need?

  • 01

    Warehouse Staff Mobile App (iOS + Android)

    Screens for goods-in, put-away, picking, transfers and stock counts. Barcode scanning, batch and expiry-date entry, bin-location verification, on-device queuing when connectivity drops, plus audible and haptic error alerts.

  • 02

    Admin Web Panel

    Rack map and occupancy, stock movement breakdown, count-variance approval, order and dispatch tracking, per-picker accuracy reporting, user permissions and ERP field-mapping management.

  • 03

    Customer / Dealer Stock Portal

    A limited-access web view for businesses running third-party storage or dealer networks, where each party sees its own stock, pending orders, dispatched delivery notes and batch-level history - cutting down the phone calls.

What the app includes

  • Pick route ordered by aisle sequence
  • Wave picking: several orders collected in one pass
  • Separate barcodes and conversion factors for case, pack and unit
  • FEFO suggestion: the batch with the nearest expiry first
  • Goods-receipt discrepancy record between ordered and actual quantity
  • Rack occupancy map with empty-bin putaway suggestion
  • Quarantine bin flow with photo record for returns and damaged goods
  • ZPL shipping label printing for pallets and cases
  • Partial shipment and backorder balance for short-picked lines
  • Zone-based cycle count calendar with task assignment
  • Per-picker line count and error rate screen
  • Per-trip vehicle loading checklist with closing confirmation

State of the sector

Regional wholesalers, newly built e-commerce warehouses and small third-party storage operators now face the same order-turnaround expectations: marketplaces track the courier handover cut-off, dealers want same-day dispatch, and grocery chains refuse goods without batch data. In a warehouse running on paper lists, the mistake surfaces not when the order is picked but when the customer opens the box - and the return, the penalty and the reshipping cost all arrive at once. Days spent closing the warehouse for a count, having no answer when a recall is raised, and goods reaching the end of their shelf life become the invisible fixed cost of running without an app.

Metrics that matter here

  • Pick accuracy (error line rate) — Once bin and barcode verification are mandatory, shipping the wrong product or the wrong batch is blocked at source.
  • Variance between recorded and physical stock — Because every movement is written the moment it happens, count variances shrink and both closing time and the need for shutdown days fall.
  • Time from goods-in to shelf — A put-away order is issued the instant an incoming pallet is scanned, so stock does not sit unsellable in the receiving area.
  • Share of stock written off for expiry — Picking suggests the nearest-expiry batch and approaching dates trigger early warnings, so short-shelf-life goods do not pile up.

Common mistakes in this sector

  • Setting up the bin addressing scheme after the software Having the app built first and labelling the racks afterwards forces all stock data to be re-entered. The addressing logic should be designed from the outset in aisle-rack-shelf layers, with the app validating against that scheme.
  • Treating carton, pack and unit as a single barcode Goods arrive by the carton and leave by the unit. If unit conversion is not modelled, counts never reconcile and picking goes wrong. Every packaging level needs its own barcode and conversion factor in the first release.
  • Leaving offline operation to phase two An app that works perfectly in the office freezes when the network drops in a warehouse aisle, and staff go back to paper. Queuing and conflict resolution are the most expensive layer to add later; they belong in the core release.
  • Setting up an overnight bulk sync with the ERP If stock is reconciled once a day, overselling and cancellations on marketplaces are inevitable. Reservation logic is needed, updates must go out movement by movement through a queue, and failed requests must be retried.

Regulation and compliance

For businesses registered for e-Fatura (Turkey's mandatory e-invoicing system), delivery notes are issued as e-İrsaliye: the dispatch screen has to connect to GİB (Turkish Revenue Administration) via a certified integrator, the delivery note number has to match the warehouse movement, and response and cancellation states have to be reflected in the app. In food and supplement products, batch-level traceability and recall records are a legal requirement, and the app must be built to produce them. If staff picking speed, error rates or device location are processed, a privacy notice, a retention period and access permissions must be defined under KVKK (Turkey's data protection law, aligned with GDPR).

The real challenges in this sector

  • Working without interruption in aisles where the network drops

    Wireless coverage drops regularly in high-rack aisles, cold rooms and between stacks of metal pallets. Picking and counting operations are queued on the device and pushed to the server once the connection returns. The genuinely critical part is not the sync itself but conflict resolution: if two users change the quantity at the same bin location differently, which movement wins - and on which screen the operator is told about it - has to be defined up front.

  • Scanning barcodes in seconds, wearing gloves, under poor light

    A warehouse worker holds the product in one hand and the device in the other; the label is creased, buried under shrink wrap, or badly lit. A phone camera is too slow for back-to-back scanning. You need a flow that accepts a Bluetooth handheld terminal in keyboard mode, does not change screens on every scan, and gives audible and haptic feedback. Touchscreen behaviour with thick gloves in a cold room, and battery drain, must be tested separately.

  • Stock that keeps moving while the count is running

    A warehouse does not shut for a full day to count; goods keep arriving and orders keep going out. When a zone-based count is opened, those bin locations are locked temporarily, and any pick order hitting a locked location is redirected to an alternative bin. As the count closes, the variance between recorded and physical stock is listed line by line with the counting user and timestamp; no stock adjustment is written without a blind second count and an approval step.

  • Batch, serial number and expiry-date traceability

    In food, cosmetics, chemicals and spare parts, counting units is not enough; which batch went to which customer has to be on record. The pick order suggests the batch with the nearest expiry date, and if the worker scans a different batch, a reason is requested. When a recall is needed, a single batch number must produce - within seconds - the list of shipments, delivery notes and dealers it reached.

  • One pool of stock exposed to several sales channels

    The same product in the warehouse is sold simultaneously through the store, dealers and marketplace listings. Unless only free stock is reported to the marketplaces, overselling and cancellation penalties are inevitable. You build a stock-state model where quantity is reserved the moment an order lands, deducted when picking completes, and released again on cancellation; updates go to marketplace services movement by movement through a queue, not as an overnight bulk push.

Required integrations

  • Certified integrator services for GİB (Turkish Revenue Administration) e-İrsaliye (electronic delivery notes) and e-Arşiv
  • Stock and product-card mapping with accounting and ERP systems such as Logo, Mikro and Netsis
  • Order and stock-update services for the Trendyol, Hepsiburada and N11 marketplaces
  • Shipment creation and barcode services for Yurtiçi, Aras, MNG, Sürat and PTT (Turkish courier companies)
  • Bluetooth handheld terminals and Zebra/Honeywell label printers (ZPL bin and carton labels)
  • UETDS (Turkey's transport tracking system) reporting and vehicle tracking systems for businesses shipping with their own fleet

Who this page is for

  • Regional wholesaler or dealer distributor running a single warehouse

    The priority is bin addressing, case-to-unit conversion and cycle counting. The existing accounting software keeps invoicing while the app owns only the physical movement layer; marketplace sync is often not needed at all.

  • Newly founded e-commerce seller managing its own warehouse

    What matters here is free-stock and reservation logic plus marketplace and carrier connections. Wave picking and partial shipment are needed early; batch and expiry tracking can wait unless the product range demands it.

  • Small business doing contract warehousing or storing food and cosmetics

    Per-client stock separation, batch and serial traceability, FEFO and recall lookup are needed already in the first phase. Adding a restricted customer portal removes most of the stock questions that arrive by phone.

A phased plan that splits the budget

  1. 1

    Phase 1 — Core version running in a single warehouse 7-9 hafta

    Delivers barcoded goods receipt, the rack address scheme, putaway, picking, transfer and zone-based counting screens plus an admin panel with rack occupancy. Addressing and unit conversion are built first, because changing these two layers later forces every stock record to be re-entered.

  2. 2

    Phase 2 — Batch, expiry and accounting/ERP connection 5-7 hafta

    Adds batch and serial tracking, FEFO suggestion, recall lookup and two-way item and stock matching with the existing accounting software. Integrating before Phase 1 records physical movements correctly would only write faulty data into two systems instead of one.

  3. 3

    Phase 3 — Dispatch, marketplaces and customer portal 5-7 hafta

    Adds e-İrsaliye (Turkey's electronic waybill) integration, carrier shipment creation, marketplace stock sync and a dealer/customer stock portal. This layer makes promises to the outside world, so it comes last: quantities pushed to external channels before free-stock and reservation logic settles will cause overselling.

Typical scope and timeline

The core release covers barcode goods-in, put-away, picking, transfers and zone-based counting screens, offline queuing, an admin panel with rack and occupancy views, user permissions, and a single accounting/ERP integration. Batch and expiry tracking, the e-İrsaliye connection, marketplace stock sync, courier integration and the customer portal add to the timeline if they are in scope. Store submission, multi-language UI and QA are included.

Estimated timeline: 10-16 weeks

Off-the-shelf or custom build?

Topic Off-the-shelf Custom build
Setup speed and initial cost Ready-made WMS packages open the same week; for trying a standard receive-pick-count flow they are a genuinely fast start. Custom development starts with analysis and the address scheme, so the first working version takes weeks; in return the flow is built around the warehouse's own layout.
Connecting to existing accounting software Some packages ship connectors for common accounting products; for standard item and stock fields they work without extra development. Custom work defines in writing which side is the single source of truth per field, and includes fields a package has no slot for, such as batch, bin and reservation.
Warehouse-specific workflow A package imposes its own flow; needs like per-client stock separation in contract warehousing, quarantine bins or case-to-unit breakdown are often worked around by renaming fields. Screens follow the warehouse's real steps; this does require the processes to be settled up front, since an undecided flow cannot be built.
Data ownership and exit Maintenance, updates and server operation sit with the vendor, which is a real burden for small teams and one the package takes on. Source code and database stay with the business and movement history can be exported from its own server; in exchange, hosting, updates and maintenance become the company's responsibility.

Sector glossary

Bin location code
The code that pinpoints where an item sits, down to aisle, rack and shelf level; pick orders reference it, and the app rejects the step if a picker scans the wrong location.
FEFO
The rule of shipping the batch with the nearest expiry date first. The pick screen suggests that batch and asks for a reason if another is scanned; in food and cosmetics it is what decides how much stock gets written off.
Free (available) stock
What remains sellable after quantities reserved for open orders are deducted from the physical stock on the shelf. This is the figure reported to marketplaces; reporting total stock instead produces overselling.
Wave picking
Collecting the shared items of several orders in one pass and sorting them per order afterwards. In small e-commerce warehouses it cuts walking distance but requires a dedicated sortation area.
Cycle counting
Counting one defined zone each day instead of shutting the warehouse down. The bins being counted are locked briefly and pick orders are routed elsewhere, which removes the need for a year-end count night.

Frequently asked questions

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