Introducing: Product Substitutions

Mission-Driven Fulfillment: Protecting the Customer Experience with Smart Substitutions

OrderGrid’s intelligent replenishment solution is built to eliminate understocking, reduce product waste, and uphold the reliability your brand promises. While many partners already achieve a 99% order completion rate using OrderGrid, we’re now addressing the final 1%—those critical item short picks that can derail a customer’s mission and compromise brand trust.

The Challenge: When One Missing Item Disrupts the Entire Order

In today’s mission-driven shopping journeys—where every item in an order serves a purpose—missing even a single product can derail the entire experience.

Whether customers are:

• Cooking dinner for the family
• Prepping breakfast before school
• Hosting a meal for guests

…a missing ingredient like eggs, pasta, or olive oil can throw the whole meal off.

These shortfalls are sometimes unavoidable—caused by last-minute supply issues, inventory inaccuracies, or damage during fulfillment. Even with fast delivery, great prices, and an exceptional experience, a single missing item can push loyal customers to shop elsewhere.

The Solution: Picker-Led Product Substitutions

To close the gap, OrderGrid now enables real-time, picker-led product substitutions—a smarter, more resilient way to protect fulfillment without compromising quality or customer trust.

This new flow empowers pickers to resolve stockouts on the spot—keeping the order intact and the customer satisfied.

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How It Works

Once substitutions are enabled, your workflows remain unchanged for the vast majority of orders. When an item is out of stock, the picker is guided through an intuitive, low-friction process:

1. Real-time alert: Picker is notified immediately in the picking flow
   
2. Search and select: Picker is shown available equivalents, along with quantities and bin locations
   
3. Confirm substitution: With one tap, the picker confirms the alternate product
   

The flow is designed to fit naturally into current operations—with no disruption or retraining required.

Business Impact

Enabling substitutions helps turn out-of-stocks into fulfillment wins. Key outcomes include:

• Recover revenue that would otherwise be lost to short picks
  
• Increase customer retention with more reliable, complete orders
  
• Optimize inventory flow by promoting movement of alternate SKUs
  
• Lower refund and support costs through fewer complaints and claims
  
• Protect brand trust with smart recovery mechanisms during stockouts
  
• Enhance picker productivity via a seamless, guided experience

Customer Experience Benefits

Substitutions are about more than saving the order—they’re about preserving the mission your customers are on.

• Ensure no missing ingredients, so every meal comes together as intended
  
• Reduce customer frustration from order changes or missing items
  
• Strengthen loyalty and repeat purchasing behavior
  
• Eliminate unnecessary trips to replace a single missing item
  
• Build confidence in your brand to deliver consistently, even when things go wrong

Turn the Final 1% Into Your Competitive Advantage

Substitutions are now available to all partners using OrderGrid’s Express Picking flow. If you're ready to recover revenue, boost customer retention, and build resilience into your operations, reach out to your OrderGrid Account Manager to get started.

Let’s make virtually perfect fulfillment your new standard.