Guide · Packing
Sort orders by SKU and pack faster
Updated 12 October 2026 · 6 minute read
When you ship twenty orders a day, packing is mostly walking: to the shelf, back to the table, to the shelf again. A little organisation in the order of your labels removes most of that. This guide shows a simple routine that works for one person at a kitchen table or a small team with a packing station.
The problem with unsorted labels
Marketplace label files usually come in the order the orders arrived. If you pack in that order, you might fetch a blue T-shirt, then a phone case, then a blue T-shirt again. Every extra trip costs time, and every swap is a chance to mix up items. Sorting by SKU fixes this by grouping identical products together.
The five-step routine
- Download the labels for the batch from your seller panel.
- Sort them by SKU with the label tool, so identical products are adjacent.
- Know what to pick by looking at the SKU totals, from the Excel report or the pick list.
- Pick and pack in label order, taking all units of one SKU at once.
- Count the batch with numbered labels, so you know nothing was missed.
Step 1 and 2: Create sorted labels
Open the Amazon, Flipkart or Meesho tab and choose your PDFs. Sort by SKU is switched on by default. The labels from all the files you add are arranged together, so you can combine several downloads into one sorted batch. For Meesho, labels stay grouped by courier first, and are sorted by SKU inside each courier.
On Amazon the tool also reads the SKU and quantity from the invoice and prints them on the label, so you can see what belongs in each parcel without opening the invoice.
Step 3: Get the totals
Before you touch a product, find out how many of each you need. Two options help here:
- Excel report (Amazon, Flipkart and Meesho). It downloads a spreadsheet with a Labels sheet, one row per label, and an SKU summary sheet showing the number of labels and the total quantity for each SKU.
- Pick list PDF (Amazon). A printable A4 list of every SKU with its label count and total quantity. Print it and walk the shelves with it.
With the totals in hand you can collect, say, 14 units of one SKU in a single trip, and you will notice immediately if stock is short.
Step 4: Pack in label order
Set the sorted labels on the table in order. Take the items for the first SKU, and pack one parcel per label, checking that the SKU on the label matches the product in your hand. When the SKU changes, you change product. This keeps the work in a rhythm, and the printed SKU gives you a quick last check before the parcel is sealed.
Orders with a quantity above 1 are separated by the tool, with their own download and print buttons, so you can pack multi-unit orders with extra care.
Step 5: Number the labels
Switch on Print number and each label gets a number such as 7 or 7/45 in the corner you choose. At the end of the batch, a quick look at the stack tells you whether you handled all 45. It is also useful when a label falls off a shelf and you need to know which one is missing.
Extra options on Amazon
- Print text: add a short line to every label, such as a batch name or “Fragile”.
- Print date & time: useful when you ship several batches a day and want to know which print a label came from.
- SKU size: Small, Medium or Large. Use Large if your packing table is dim or your SKUs are long.
Name your SKUs so sorting works well
Sorting groups SKUs by their names, so a consistent naming pattern makes the groups meaningful. A few habits help:
- Put the product family first, then the variant: TSHIRT-BLUE-M, TSHIRT-BLUE-L.
- Use the same separator and case everywhere.
- Avoid spaces and special characters.
- Keep names short enough to be readable at a glance.
Frequently asked questions
Why sort labels by SKU?
Sorting puts identical products next to each other, so you pick and pack the same item many times in a row instead of walking back and forth for single orders.
What does the Excel report show?
It has a Labels sheet with one row per label and an SKU summary sheet with the number of labels and total quantity for each SKU.
Which options are available for each marketplace?
Sort by SKU, Print number and the Excel report are available for Amazon, Flipkart and Meesho. Print text, date and time and the pick list PDF are available for Amazon.