How We Enable Two-Day Delivery in the Shopify Fulfillment Network

Summary

Shopify Fulfillment Network (SFN) enables merchants to offer two-day delivery across the United States by balancing inventory across Shopify-certified warehouses and choosing suitable carrier services. Shopify’s platform adds GraphQL APIs that let any third-party logistics provider upload pre-computed delivery dates, while storefront and checkout surfaces display them to buyers. SFN calculates schedules using inventory proximity, product weight, dimensions and hazard constraints, warehouse calendars and capacity, carrier pickups, closures, capacity limits, and time-in-transit data. It groups SKUs with shared inventory locations and characteristics into reusable schedules, maps each SKU to one, and supports direct delivery-date lookups in under 100 milliseconds; the selected date is returned to SFN for fulfillment routing.

Context

Merchants use SFN to save time on storing, packing, and shipping merchandise. SFN also sought to make two-day delivery across the United States easier and more affordable while accounting for real-world factors, sustainable ground shipment methods, and low cost. The solution needed to work as part of Shopify’s extensible platform and support different third-party logistics providers.

Approach / What changed

Shopify introduced GraphQL APIs for 3PLs to upload delivery dates, storefront integrations to display them on product pages and at checkout, and an SFN system that calculates and uploads pre-computed schedules. SFN considers inventory location, product constraints, warehouse operations and capacity, carrier schedules and capacity, and time in transit. SKUs are mapped to reusable schedules, enabling fast lookups and fulfillment routing against the promised date.

Takeaways

• Shopify’s delivery-date platform lets each 3PL control the factors affecting its dates instead of forcing all providers into fixed primitives such as operating days, capacity, processing times, and transit times.
• SFN reduces schedule data by grouping SKUs with the same fulfillment-center inventory and similar characteristics, allowing SKUs from different shops to share a delivery-date schedule.
• Pre-computed delivery-date schedules enable direct lookups in under 100 milliseconds; the displayed date is also sent to SFN to select a warehouse and shipping label that meet it.

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