October 2026 platform update: More control, stronger integrations and a new direction for AI

Another month, another round of improvements to the fulfilmentcrowd platform.

This past month, we've focused on making everyday fulfilment processes more flexible, improving how our technology connects with the platforms customers already use and exploring new ways to make fulfilment data easier to access.

And looking further ahead, we're exploring how conversational AI could change the way customers interact with their fulfilment data.

Here's everything you need to know this month.

What's new in the fulfilmentcrowd platform?

Greater flexibility when managing Back Orders

Managing inventory across multiple warehouses comes with plenty of advantages, but sometimes the stock needed to fulfil an order isn't available at its originally assigned location.

Previously, that could mean waiting for stock to become available before the order could progress.

We've introduced a new option that gives customers more flexibility when handling these situations.

Orders with a Back Order status can now be reassigned to an alternative warehouse where the required stock is available.

Rather than waiting for replenishment at the original location, customers can select another warehouse and continue with the usual fulfilment process.

This provides several benefits:

• Fewer avoidable delays: Orders can progress from another location rather than waiting for stock to become available at the original warehouse.
• Greater inventory flexibility: Make better use of available stock across multiple fulfilment locations.
• A better customer experience: Reduce unnecessary waiting and help orders reach customers sooner.

For brands operating across multiple territories or holding inventory in several fulfilment centres, this provides another way to make the most of a distributed warehouse network.

Where to find it: Open an order with a Back Order status in the Retailer App and update its assigned warehouse to an alternative location with available stock.

Batch selection now available on Sales Orders

Following our recent improvements to batch selection for Custom Orders, we've extended the functionality to standard Sales Orders.

Customers can now choose a batch type against individual products when manually creating or editing a Sales Order.

This brings more control over inventory allocation into everyday order management, rather than limiting it to larger or more specialised Custom Orders.

It's particularly useful for businesses handling products with:

• Expiry dates or minimum shelf-life requirements
• Stock rotation considerations
• Specific batch fulfilment requirements

Whether you're managing products with a limited shelf life or need tighter control over which inventory is selected, this update makes batch management more accessible across different order types.

Where to find it: Batch selection is available when manually creating or editing Sales Orders in the Retailer App.

Packing lists now available in Excel

Packing lists give customers a detailed breakdown of how an order was prepared for dispatch, including the items contained within individual cartons and how those cartons are distributed across pallets.

Previously, this information was available to download as a PDF.

Following customer feedback, we've now introduced Excel (.xlsx) downloads for Dispatched Orders and Custom Orders, giving customers another way to work with their packing information.

The Excel version contains the same details as the PDF, including:

• A breakdown of items packed into each carton
• Information about which cartons have been packed onto each pallet, where applicable

The difference is what customers can do with that information afterwards.

For example, packing data can now be imported into internal systems for stock reconciliation, sorted and filtered to locate specific products or shared with teams that need to work with the information.

This is particularly useful for larger B2B shipments, where a single order may contain multiple cartons and pallets, and goods-in teams need a clear understanding of what's arriving.

Rather than relying solely on a document for reference, customers can now use their packing information as part of their wider operational processes.

Where to find it: The Excel download option is available alongside the existing PDF option on the Dispatched Orders and Custom Orders screens.

Manage product pre-release dates directly in the Retailer App

A brand might want to start accepting pre-orders weeks before a product is officially released, without those orders entering the warehouse picking process too early.

To help manage this, product pre-release dates can now be configured directly within the Retailer App.

Customers can set a pre-release date against a product, allowing orders to be placed ahead of launch while preventing them from being released for picking until the appropriate date has passed.

This can be particularly useful for:

• New product launches
• Pre-order campaigns
• Scheduled product releases
• Limited-edition product drops

Where to find it: Pre-release dates can now be managed against products in the Retailer App.

Integrations: Better connections between the systems you use

A fulfilment platform shouldn't operate independently of the systems that generate orders, manage customer interactions and support the wider business.

That's why we're continuing to develop our integrations, expanding the channels we support and improving the information that can move between them.

This month, there are several developments worth highlighting.

Expanding our bol.com integration

We've made significant progress in developing our integration with bol.com, one of the Netherlands' major online marketplaces.

The integration is already being used to download orders into fulfilmentcrowd for processing, with additional functionality supporting cancellations and returns.

We're also developing the ability to communicate information back to bol.com once returned inventory has been processed.

This includes confirming that a return has been put away, with additional information about whether the returned items have been placed back into available stock where applicable.

These developments help reduce the need for manual updates between systems and provide a more connected process for brands selling through the marketplace.

We've also been working on bol.com Shipping, supporting the movement of orders from the marketplace through fulfilmentcrowd and into the relevant shipping process.

Further development is underway to support additional delivery arrangements, including a same-day delivery workflow for eligible orders placed during the evening.

As we continue integrating fulfilment.nl into the wider fulfilmentcrowd business, bol.com represents an important sales channel for many brands operating in the Netherlands.

Developing these capabilities helps us support more of those existing customer workflows within our wider technology platform.

The integration is being introduced progressively, with further functionality and customer rollout to follow.

Shopify cancellations can now reach fulfilment faster

We've also enhanced our Shopify integration to improve how cancelled orders are handled.

When an order is cancelled directly within Shopify, the integration can now be configured to pass that cancellation request into fulfilmentcrowd automatically.

The aim is to give the fulfilment operation a better opportunity to stop an order before it progresses too far towards dispatch.

Previously, a cancellation made by a consumer could require additional communication before the warehouse became aware of it.

Depending on how quickly the order was progressing, that delay could mean it was already too late to prevent dispatch.

By passing cancellation requests directly between Shopify and fulfilmentcrowd, we can reduce the time between a customer cancelling an order and the fulfilment operation receiving that information.

That creates an opportunity to:

• Reduce unnecessary shipments
• Minimise manual intervention when processing cancellations
• Avoid preventable returns where an order can still be stopped
• Improve the experience for consumers who change their minds

The core functionality can now be enabled for customers using the relevant Shopify integration.

We're continuing to improve the associated notifications, particularly how customers are informed whether an order was successfully cancelled or whether it had already progressed too far.

Returnless integration progressing

Another integration currently in development is Returnless, a returns management platform.

The intention is to support customers who use Returnless to manage their consumer returns journey, while allowing relevant returns information to flow between Returnless and fulfilmentcrowd.

This would allow returns initiated through the Returnless portal to be communicated into the fulfilment operation, with information sent back as returned goods are processed.

Development is at an advanced stage, although some technical work remains before we can confirm wider availability.

What's coming next?

Alongside these released improvements, we're continuing work on several larger developments that could change how customers interact with the platform and how fulfilment operations are managed.

What if you could just ask your fulfilment data?

One of the most interesting areas we're exploring is how conversational AI could make fulfilment information easier to access.

Today, answering a question about your operation might involve opening a dashboard, navigating through several screens, building a report or exporting data into a spreadsheet.

But what if you could simply ask the question?

We're exploring how customers could connect the AI tools they already use, such as ChatGPT or Claude, to fulfilmentcrowd data sources.

The idea is to make it possible to interact with fulfilment information conversationally, using natural language rather than relying entirely on traditional reporting interfaces.

This work forms part of a wider data intelligence initiative currently being developed by our Product team.

It's still at an early stage, and we're working through how customers could securely connect to and interact with the relevant data.

We're also interested in understanding which use cases would deliver the most value.

Perhaps there's a question you regularly need to answer, a report your team repeatedly builds or a process where access to better information could save time.

If so, we'd love to hear about it.