Every time a shopper clicks “Place Order,” a complex process begins behind the scenes. An online retailer must decide where each item should be fulfilled, how orders should be picked and packed, how parcels should be transported, and how returns should be handled. These decisions are tightly connected: a choice made at the start can affect costs, workload, delivery speed and customer experience downstream.
In a study published in the Journal of Management Science and Engineering , Yuankai Zhang, Wei-Hua Lin, Qiong Tian and Xiangpei Hu reviewed the growing body of research on B2C online order fulfillment, including emerging omni-channel models in which physical stores can also serve as fulfillment locations.
For managers, the review provides a practical way to look beyond individual warehouse or delivery decisions and consider the entire fulfillment chain. For researchers, it identifies future directions including better coordination across stages, decision-making under uncertainty, sustainability, behavioral analytics, and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with digital twins and optimization.
The research papers included were published between 2007 to May 2026. The systematic search began with 1,495 records and resulted in 198 articles for detailed analysis. The authors organized the literature around the real-world fulfillment process: order assignment, warehouse operations, shipping and delivery, and return operations.
The review highlights four characteristics that make B2C fulfillment especially challenging: very large product assortments, networks with multiple fulfillment locations, personalized multi-item orders, and tight delivery time windows. It also shows how research is increasingly moving beyond isolated decisions and static planning toward more integrated and real-time approaches.
“B2C order fulfillment is not a collection of separate tasks. Decisions made at one stage can create consequences at another,” says Zhang. “By viewing the process as a connected system, we can better identify where coordination, data and new technologies can improve fulfillment decisions.”
The team also examined how data analytics, AI and emerging generative AI can support forecasting, scenario generation and operational decision-making. “Rather than replacing optimization methods, these technologies are increasingly viewed as decision-support tools that can work alongside optimization,” adds Zhang.
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Contact the author: Yuankai Zhang，School of Economics and Management, Beihang University，Beijing 100191, China，Email: ykzhang@buaa.edu.cn
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Journal of Management Science and Engineering
Systematic review
Not applicable
Mapping the B2C order fulfillment process: From customer order placement to package delivery
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.