Short answer
Order fulfillment is the process of getting a placed order to the customer: receiving the order, picking the items, packing them, handing the package to a carrier and confirming delivery. In Shopify, an order is "unfulfilled" until it has been marked as shipped, and each package sent becomes a fulfillment with its own tracking.Stores fulfil in different ways. Small brands pack orders themselves at the end of the day. Growing ones hand stock to a third-party logistics warehouse that pulls orders from Shopify automatically. Others dropship, so a supplier ships directly. Many stores mix all three, which is why one order can ship in two packages from two places.
For support, the stage of fulfillment decides what is still possible. Before picking, a customer can usually change the address, swap a size or cancel. Once the warehouse has picked and packed, those changes get hard. After the carrier scan, the options narrow to rerouting with the carrier, a return, or sending a new parcel. A request that arrives at 9pm about order #1044 has a very different answer depending on whether the warehouse pulls orders at 8am or every hour.
The popular mistake is treating fulfillment as the warehouse's problem and support's answer as "it is being processed." Customers asking about an unshipped order want to know two things: is it still changeable, and when will it leave.
Fulfillment stages and what support can still do
| Stage | Shopify status | Changes still possible |
|---|---|---|
| Order placed, not picked | unfulfilled | address, items, cancel |
| Picked and packed | unfulfilled or in progress | sometimes, if the warehouse can stop it |
| Shipped | fulfilled, tracking added | carrier intercept, return, reshipment |
| Delivered | delivered | return, replacement, refund |
Aide reads where each order stands in Shopify before answering, so a request to change or cancel gets checked against the order's real state. For a verified shopper, Aide can change the shipping address, remove an unshipped item or cancel the order while that is still possible. Teammates can also pause fulfillment from the conversation while they decide. See how Aide connects to Shopify orders.