Fulfillment for WooCommerce: how to connect your store to a warehouse (2026)

Fulfillment connects to a WooCommerce store through a webhook: every paid order is sent automatically to the operator's warehouse, which handles picking, packing and dispatch, and the tracking number is written back to the order so the customer is notified. No CSV exports, no heavy plugins, no addresses copied by hand.

WooCommerce runs on WordPress and is, for many Portuguese stores, the platform the business started on. It scales well right up to the point where shipping no longer fits into the afternoon of whoever runs the store. This guide covers what the integration does, what you need to prepare, and the volume at which it starts to pay off.

How the WooCommerce to warehouse connection works

The connection is built on an order-created webhook. In practice that means three automatic flows, the same ones described in the store integration guide:

• Orders travel from the store to the warehouse: every paid sale creates a dispatch order in the operator's software, with items, quantities and delivery address.
• Tracking travels back: once the order ships, the tracking number returns to the WooCommerce order and the customer gets the store's normal notification.
• Stock stays in sync: warehouse levels are reflected in the store, so you do not sell what no longer exists.

At OrderNau the connection uses a webhook authenticated with a shared secret, generated in the partner dashboard. The secret is how the warehouse confirms a request genuinely came from your store and not from somewhere else, which is why setup asks for the store address and that secret, and nothing more.

What to prepare on the WooCommerce side

The technical part is rarely the obstacle. What decides how fast you go live is the state of the catalogue:

• Consistent SKUs: every variation with a unique code, identical in the store and in the warehouse. On WooCommerce it is common for variations to have been left without a SKU, and that is exactly where picking breaks.
• Weights and dimensions filled in on each product, so shipping costs are calculated correctly.
• Kit and bundle composition, if you sell several items under a single SKU.
• Shipping rules by destination and by value, from economy to express, with or without a pickup point.

One warning specific to this platform: a WooCommerce store with a few years behind it usually carries old products, orphaned variations and a pile of accumulated shipping plugins. It is cheaper to clean the catalogue before connecting than to discover the problem on the first real order.

How long the connection takes

Stage	What happens	Who does it
Configuration	Store address and webhook secret in the dashboard	Operator, with the merchant's access
Catalogue	SKU, weight and dimension check	Merchant, with operator support
Testing	Real end-to-end orders, with label and tracking	Both
Go live	Orders start flowing in on their own	Automatic

With a tidy catalogue the connection takes a few days, testing included. What usually causes delay is not the technical side, it is the SKU cleanup and the shipping-rule decisions.

Carriers, returns and international sales

Once integrated, the store ships through the operator's carriers. At OrderNau, dispatch is built on Delnext as the primary carrier, with DHL Express, DHL eCommerce, CTT and UPS available, supporting both home delivery and pickup points. The dispatch commitment is by the next business day after the order arrives, from the warehouse in Lisbon.

Returns sit with the operator, which receives the item, checks its condition and puts it back into stock when it is fit for resale. The e-commerce returns guide covers the process in detail.

If you sell outside the European Union, customs documentation matters. OrderNau handles documentation for the United Kingdom and the United States through its own mailboxes.

When it pays off

It pays off when the real cost of doing everything in house, adding up packing time, salaries, space, materials and mistakes, exceeds an operator's per-order fee. OrderNau's pricing is regressive: the cost per order falls as monthly volume rises, with monthly billing and the inventory management app included. How that cost breaks down is explained in how much fulfillment costs in Portugal, with the tiers on the pricing page.

To decide between keeping the operation in house or outsourcing it, the fulfillment versus in-house logistics comparison does the maths on both sides.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to install a plugin on WooCommerce?

No dedicated plugin is required. The connection uses WooCommerce's native webhooks, configured once with the warehouse address and a shared secret. Less code installed on the store means one less thing to break during a WordPress update.

What happens if my store is offline during an update?

The webhook fires from the store, so an order created while the warehouse is unreachable can fail on the first attempt. In practice affected orders are reprocessed, and the webhook log in the dashboard shows what came in and what failed.

Can I sell on channels other than WooCommerce?

You can. Alongside WooCommerce, OrderNau integrates Shopify, OpenCart and marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Vinted. Several channels can share the same physical stock, with inventory synchronised across all of them.

Does migrating off WooCommerce mean changing operator?

No. The warehouse and the stock stay where they are; only the connection changes. That is one of the advantages of keeping the store and the logistics separate.

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Thinking about connecting your WooCommerce store to a warehouse? Talk to OrderNau: we will tell you what your store needs and send a proposal matched to your volume, the same business day.