Ordered Something Online? Here’s How it Gets to Your Doorstep

This is how your online package reaches you from the warehouse to the doorstep.

Packages being sent for delivery to different locations across India.

(Photo: The Quint)

Camera Person: Sumit Badola, Cyrus John
Video Editor: Rahul Sanpui

I know the online shopper in you might have always been curious of how a product ordered online reaches your doorstep. Trust me, there’s a lot of work that goes into this process after you click on the product and pay online.

Online retail giant Amazon has something called fulfillment centres spread across India, which deals with storing products sent from sellers and getting them to the customers.

The whole process requires not only a facility spread across acres of land, but also a workforce that makes sure the process runs smoothly.

So, here’ s a look at the whole process of how a package ordered online reaches your doorstep!

First, sellers who want to sell their products have to register on Amazon’s website and then send the listed product to Amazon’s warehouse for storage. The items are then sorted accordingly and then sent further for quality checks.

During the quality check process, if a product is damaged from the seller’s side, it’s sent back to the seller. These products are scanned on a machine called Cubi Scanner which determines the dimension and weight of the product based on which the product is sent for storage.

The storage area consists of various sections, which houses items of different sizes ranging from something as big as a water cooler to an item as small as a lighter. Each of these is shelved according to its size.

The interesting bit is that these items aren't placed in shelves based on brand or category but by size. So it’s possible that a bottle of shampoo could easily land next to a motorcycle clutch.

When a customer places an order for a particular product, the facility is notified and then an associate at the facility tracks down that product and then puts the same on a conveyor belt, which takes the product to the next stage for packaging.

There are about 40 different types of boxes according to which products are packaged. There a few occasions when the packages might not be according to the size of the product and that happens due to an error in the algorithm.

After the packaging is complete, the product is then sent to the next station where they are allotted to different regions of the country. Here they are placed in large bags marked with the location they are destined for. Also, the products are categorised based on whether they are slotted for express delivery or not.

After the sorting process is completed, the packages are placed into trucks that exit the facility and head to different locations so that they can be delivered. The duration of the delivery depends on various factors.

So, if the fulfillment center is in Delhi or Gurgaon and the customer too is in the same area then you can get the shipment the same day or the next day. The further the fulfillment, the more time it will take for the package to get to you.

So the next time you order something online, do remember, this is what goes on behind the scenes.