Stock history in the app

You can now view a product’s stock history in the new app. On the product page, you’ll find a link per warehouse that shows all stock changes.

Other updates

• Product fields are now shown in the app on the product page, picklists, batches, and during receipt registration.
• Tags from the order are now displayed on the picklist in the app.
• When importing products, product codes are now case-insensitive.
• When importing orders from Shopware 6, we now use the billing address country to determine the correct language.
• Exporting stock age is now working properly again.

Expanded support for shop locations in Shopify

With the transition to Shopify’s “Fulfilment Orders,” we now offer better support for multiple shop locations (such as retail stores) in Shopify. Picqer now only imports orders from one connected Shopify location, so you can manage each location differently.

This allows you to use Shopify POS for your retail store while managing your main warehouse with Picqer.

New Bol.com authentication

Bol.com has switched to a newer, more secure authentication method with Picqer. Previously, you had to manually enter your Bol.com login credentials in Picqer. Now it’s much faster and easier. You simply go to a special login page on Bol.com from within Picqer and authorize access with one click.

Performance improvements

• The shipment overview is now much faster, especially for customers with many orders.
• The “Bestsellers” report is now on average 98% faster.
• The “Picklists processed” report is now on average 86% faster.

Other updates

• You can now search support articles directly from the “Help & suggestions” panel.
• In the app, fulfilment partners can now also see which fulfilment client is linked to each product, picklist, or batch.
• Order fields are now also visible on picklists in the app.
• MyParcel international shipments can now be insured for up to 500 euros.
• In comments, users with similar names can now be mentioned more precisely using the @ symbol (e.g. Jan, Jan Willem, Jan Peter).
• Orders from Shopware 6 are now only marked as paid if the payment has actually been completed in the webshop.
• When creating a purchase order from a supplier, the configured language and template are now automatically applied.
• We now support webshop name changes involving diacritical characters.

Yesterday afternoon, we experienced a 3-hour outage in our connection with Bol.com. We’re truly sorry for the inconvenience. Here’s a recap of what happened.

The outage

The core of the outage was that the connection between Bol.com and Picqer didn’t work for most users on Monday 17 April, between 13:00 and 15:50.

During this period, the following functions were unavailable:

• New Bol.com orders were not imported into Picqer
• Stock changes in Picqer were not sent to Bol.com
• Orders marked as shipped in Picqer were not updated in Bol.com

Everything restored

Once we resolved the root cause at 15:50, we immediately started recovering all missed actions. We prioritized the most critical ones first.

• From 15:50, all orders were imported again. No orders were missed.
• By 17:00, stock for all products was updated at Bol.com. This ensured all stock changes during the outage were communicated.
• By 18:45, all orders shipped during the outage were marked as shipped in Bol.com.

Notifications about duplicate shipments

Since we couldn’t guarantee which shipped orders had already been marked as shipped, we re-submitted all Bol.com orders shipped during the outage. This resulted in some duplicate notifications in Picqer, saying that orders could not be marked as shipped.

These notifications were cleared this morning.

Check your open orders

We’ve restored all missed actions to the best of our ability. However, it's still possible that a shipment was missed.

To be sure nothing is missing, please check the Bol.com portal for any open orders from yesterday or earlier that you’ve already shipped. You can manually mark those as shipped within the Bol.com portal.

Technical details

Here’s what caused the outage:

We’re currently migrating to a new login method for Bol.com, which significantly changes how communication works between the two systems. At this stage, we have three types of connections:
- Old connections using the original login method
- Migrated connections using the new method
- Brand-new connections created directly using the new method

We discovered a bug affecting the last category. New connections were being disabled every hour due to a bug in our code. At 13:00, we deployed a new version of Picqer to fix this issue.

Unfortunately, that new version inadvertently deactivated all existing connections that hadn’t yet been migrated. Inactive connections don’t import orders or update stock and shipping info.

We noticed the issue after receiving reports from users and were able to identify and fix the error.

From 15:50 we had the situation under control and focused on resolving the impact. On Tuesday morning we started improving our monitoring and cleared all duplicate shipment notifications.

What’s next

The main reason the outage lasted so long is because we only noticed it after users reached out. That shouldn’t have happened. Normally, our monitoring and release processes catch errors quickly and we fix them right away. However, our monitoring didn’t yet track the drop in active Bol.com connections.

We’ve adjusted the monitoring today to ensure similar issues will be detected sooner in the future.

My apologies for this outage. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at support@picqer.com.

– Casper

Last month, Hugo joined Picqer. He’s happy to introduce himself:

Hugo Zonderland

Hi! I’m Hugo and since March 1st I’ve been working at Picqer as a Developer on the product team.

Before joining Picqer, I worked for nine years at a web development agency in Arnhem, where I mostly focused on retail. During that time, I came into contact with many different types of warehouse software. This was always from the “outside”—I integrated these systems for clients. After working with many of these tools, I became really interested in warehouse software and wanted to be part of the mission Picqer stands for: making it easy for webshops and fulfilment companies to run their warehouse efficiently, effectively, and professionally.

I live in beautiful Arnhem along the Rhine with my girlfriend Melissa and our two chihuahuas, Beer and Bowie. In my free time, I enjoy going to the gym, diving into cryptocurrencies, cooking meals with friends, or dining at great restaurants.

A fun fact: the agency I used to work for was Logict, which was acquired by Casper and Stephan in 2014. Over the years, I provided support for that software. You could already spot early tests for Picqer in the Logict codebase—some of which I still recognise today. It’s fun to think that that acquisition helped fund the development and launch of Picqer, and now I’m part of the Picqer team myself.

I’m excited to start this new adventure, to learn a lot of new things, and to get to know our users.

We had been looking forward to it for a long time, and last week it finally happened. We were at the Webwinkel Vakdagen with our updated booth at the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht. It's the perfect opportunity to meet online retailers and other e-commerce companies and share knowledge. We had many fun and valuable conversations—with webshop owners, Picqer users, and partners.

Both days of the event, our team of 10 colleagues was ready to talk about all things warehouse-related. Our booth was well attended and the great atmosphere made it a truly enjoyable experience. Check out the video impression:

Something for everyone

Our mission is to make it easy for every webshop and fulfilment company to run their own warehouse efficiently, effectively, and professionally. At the event, we spoke with both new webshop owners and those with more experience. They shared their passion for their businesses and the challenges they face in their warehouses. Because each situation is unique, we enjoyed discovering how we could help—sometimes by explaining how our software works, other times by offering a small tip for warehouse optimization.

Many current Picqer users also took the time to visit our booth. Some met us for the first time in person, while others stopped by to catch up. It was great to hear your experiences and learn more about what’s happening in your warehouses.

Picklist table stickers

This year, we introduced Picqer picklist table stickers. You might recognize this: utility knives, tape dispensers, and other tools that often go missing because someone walked off with them. These stickers help by giving every item a fixed spot on the packing table, so you always know where to find it. Want a free set of picklist table stickers for your packing tables? Request them here here.

The booklet Your warehouse deserves to shine with warehouse tips was also very popular again this year. With the tips inside, you can quickly take steps to make your warehouse more efficient. Don’t have a copy yet? Request one here.

Talks

This year, we gave two talks together with Picqer users. On Wednesday, Jesse from Go-in-style.nl shared how they improve their warehouse a little bit every day—and how that mindset is part of their company culture. On Thursday, Benne and Rens from Sound Factory talked about how they successfully optimized their warehouse amid the vinyl revival.

It was great to give our users the stage and hear how they approach warehouse optimization in practice. The sessions were well attended and we received lots of positive feedback. We hope we helped inspire others to optimize their own warehouses.

All in all, we look back on a successful event full of meaningful and enjoyable encounters.

See you at the next Webwinkel Vakdagen!