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Types of Warehouses

Overview​

Endless provides a flexible warehouse management system that supports both internal (managed) warehouses and external warehouses. This guide explains the different types of warehouses and how they work with fulfillment services.

Warehouse Types​

Managed Warehouses​

Managed warehouses are warehouses that are fully controlled and managed by Endless Commerce. These warehouses:

  • Store inventory data within the Endless Commerce system
  • Can be used for order fulfillment through connected fulfillment services
  • Support local inventory tracking and allocation
  • Can be set as default warehouses for a brand

Key Characteristics:

  • Inventory levels are tracked within Endless Commerce
  • Orders can be fulfilled directly from these warehouses
  • Support for multiple locations within the warehouse
  • Priority-based allocation for order fulfillment

External Warehouses​

External warehouses are warehouses that are managed by external systems (like Shopify, third-party fulfillment providers, etc.). We sometimes refer to external warehouses as read-only. These warehouses:

  • Are connected to external systems through integrations
  • Are typically used for dropship or third-party fulfillment scenarios

Key Characteristics:

  • Inventory levels are managed by the external system
  • Cannot be set as default warehouses
  • Used primarily for dropship fulfillment

Why Use External Warehouses?​

Brands might use external warehouses for several reasons:

  1. Sales channels handle fulfillment directly: In this situation, one or more sales channels will have a direct connection to a fulfillment service (e.g., Shopify → ShipStation) and the brand isn't ready to use Endless for full order management.
  2. Dropshipping: In this situation, you might want to use Endless for order management but have the order fulfilled externally by a dropship partner with whom no integration is available. Without an integration to the external warehouse, Endless is unable to receive accurate inventory data or send orders for fulfillment, but still needs to be able to assign line items to the warehouse for data consistency purposes.

External warehouses are typically created in Endless by upstream integrations like Shopify. If a location is created in an external system and then imported into Endless, it will be imported as an external warehouse by default.

Fulfillment Services​

What are Fulfillment Services?​

Fulfillment services are integrations that handle the actual shipping and fulfillment of orders. They are essential for managed warehouses to process orders.

Fulfillment Service Requirements​

For Managed Warehouses:

  • Must have a fulfillment service connected to fulfill orders
  • Without a fulfillment service, orders cannot be automatically fulfilled
  • Users must use manual shipping options if no fulfillment service is assigned

For External Warehouses:

  • Fulfillment is handled by the external system
  • No additional fulfillment service connection required in Endless Commerce