In recent weeks, we’ve made several improvements to the Picqer app related to receiving products.

The app now supports more receiving workflows and makes it easier to move received products.

Create a new receipt

You can now create a new receipt for a supplier or fulfilment customer directly from the receipts screen. To use this, make sure you have the latest version of the app from the App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android).

Add products to a receipt

You can now add products from multiple purchase orders to a single receipt in the app. It’s also possible to add products that are not listed on a purchase order.

Move products after receiving

After adding the received products to your stock, you can scan them to move them to the correct location.

While moving products, you can scan a location to assign the items to it. This is done automatically if the scanned location is not yet linked to the product.

Filter locations when linking

When manually linking a new location, you can filter available locations by availability, bulk status, or location type.

If you scan the barcode of an aisle, only the locations within that aisle are shown. This makes it easier to select an available location within the same aisle.

Other updates

New

• Import purchase prices in a purchase order.
• Display the AB(C) label on the product detail page in the Picqer app.
• Added PostNL product 6972 (international tracked letterbox parcel).
• Enabled Packs as an external shipping method.
• Enabled Parcel4You as an external shipping method.

Tweaks

• Barcode update for PostNL 4947 international shipments.
• Filter backorders in the API using sinceid and sincedate.
• Show a clear error message if you try to create an international PostNL shipment without prices.

Fixes

• Incorrect sorting of sub-locations in the location overview.
• Allow optional columns to be used as the first column when importing into a purchase order.

It's almost time! On Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 March, the Webwinkel Vakdagen will take place at the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht. This year, we’ll once again be present with a stand. Plus, we’ll be giving two talks together with customers about warehouse optimization.

The Webwinkel Vakdagen is the largest e-commerce event in the Netherlands. With over 250 exhibitors offering e-commerce solutions and more than 200 talks scheduled, it's the perfect place to network and get inspired.

Stop by for advice or a chat

We’ll be available both days to offer advice about warehouse optimization or just have a friendly chat. We’d love to see you at stand 76.

You can now scan barcodes in the Picqer app using your device’s camera. This works in both the Android and iOS versions.

On screens where the camera scanner is available, you’ll see a barcode icon in the top right corner. Tap it to activate the camera and start scanning.

We’d love to hear your feedback on how this feature works for you.

Learn more about scanning barcodes with the camera on our support page.

Other improvements and fixes

Alongside major new features, we continuously work on smaller improvements and fixes. Here's a selection of what we’ve done in the first weeks of the new year:

• New: You can now also create internal labels for singles batches.
• New: Using rules, you can snooze a picklist until the delivery day. This is useful for Same Day Delivery orders.
• Tweak: Comments from deleted elements, such as purchase orders, are now also removed from the comment overview.
• Tweak: All overview pages in the app now have a more consistent design.
• Tweak: Draft orders are no longer included in the purchasing advice.
• Tweak: Logins from the Picqer app are now also recorded and visible in the login overview.
• Tweak: Support for beforeid in the orders API.
• Tweak: Unsnooze picklists every minute instead of every 15 minutes.
• Tweak: Improved handling of marking untracked letter mail shipments to Bol.com as dispatched.
• Tweak: Support for Track & Trace URLs with more than 250 characters.
• Fix: Picqer app crashed after registering a receipt.
• Fix: Incorrect error message when deleting a product with a linked location.
• Fix: Delete button was visible for products linked to a return.

We create a lot of videos throughout the year at Picqer. We regularly hear from viewers that they would also like to do more with video for their business, but don’t know where to begin. That’s why, as video marketer, I created a video explaining how we make our videos.
In the video, I talk about our YouTube studio, the equipment we use, our production process and in this blog, you’ll read which equipment you can use to get started.

What equipment do you need?

It’s important to emphasise that your gear is not the most important thing. The key is your message. If your message is strong, you don’t need expensive equipment to make a great video. Of course, good equipment does enhance the professionalism of your content. High-quality visuals and clear audio simply make your video more enjoyable to watch.
Here’s what I recommend to start with.

Camera

All modern cameras now deliver great image quality. What you want to look for is good autofocus and the ability to connect a microphone. Some interesting options:

• Sony a6000 series
• Fujifilm XT series, such as the XT-30
• Canon EOS M50 II
• Nikon Z50

Out of these, I recommend the Sony a6400. It offers excellent autofocus, which is especially helpful when you’re already juggling a lot while filming. With strong autofocus, you don’t have to worry whether you’re in focus. The camera handles that for you.

Most of these cameras come with a standard zoom lens, which is a great place to start. As a next step, a 35mm or 50mm f1.8 lens is a great upgrade. These lenses offer better image quality than a zoom lens and have a wider aperture (f1.8). The wider the aperture, the more light the lens lets in, and the more you can play with depth of field. More light also means you won’t need such strong lighting. And you can create blurry backgrounds that add production value to your video.

The new year has begun, which means it’s time to look back at the past year. After two years in which COVID-19 had a major impact on the number of online orders, 2022 was more stable and predictable. This trend is clearly visible in the data. We compared the average number of orders across all Picqer user webshops in 2022 with 2021. Below, we reflect on the differences and highlight the busiest days of the year.

Busiest days of 2022

As usual, the top 10 busiest days in 2022 were largely dominated by Black Friday week and Cyber Monday. We also saw plenty of activity in the weeks leading up to Christmas. However, there was a shift. Last year, the Monday before Christmas was the second busiest day of the year. This year, it ranked fourth. Cyber Monday and the Sunday after Black Friday moved up to second and third place.

Comparing Black Friday week and Cyber Monday with the previous year, we saw a 3.79% increase. Even though more businesses are choosing Green Friday and intentionally opting out of Black Friday, there were still more orders placed.

In the 14 days leading up to Christmas (10 to 23 December), there were 4% fewer orders compared to 2021. Interestingly, physical stores saw record levels of debit card payments on the Friday before Christmas. This suggests that more people may have chosen to shop in physical stores for their holiday purchases.

Top 10 busiest days

Here are the 10 busiest days of 2022:

20% fewer orders in Q1

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, many stores had to close in the first quarter of 2021, which led to a sharp increase in online orders. In 2022, stores remained open. This resulted in a much more stable trend and a visible 20% decline in orders in Q1. From July to November 2022, we saw more orders than in 2021. In December, the number of orders once again dropped below the previous year's level.