An order can be partly delivered while another item is still waiting to ship. A single green 'delivered' badge can therefore tell the wrong story. Ask your agency to design the account page around packages and their contents.
Related service: Website and ecommerce development- 01Record ordered items
- 02Assign items to shipments
- 03Attach tracking to each shipment
- 04Update package-level progress
- 05Summarize remaining work
SECTION 01
Model the relationship before styling the timeline
Ask the agency which system groups items into shipments and whether that grouping can change after purchase. An order, a fulfillment and a carrier package are related but not always identical records. Keep those distinctions in the integration. The customer needs a simple view, but the underlying data must still identify which items remain unfulfilled and which tracking events belong to each package.
Shopify's split-shipping documentation describes supported checkout grouping and compatibility limits; its tracking guidance explains how carrier details reach customer updates. Treat those as platform examples rather than assuming every fulfillment app behaves the same way. Before commissioning a custom account view, check whether the existing platform can already present the needed shipment details with clearer labels and notification wording.
SECTION 02
Illustrative example: a lamp and replacement shades
Imagine a home-lighting shop fulfilling a lamp from one location and two shades from another. The first parcel arrives while the second has only a shipping label. The order page shows the lamp as delivered and the shades as awaiting carrier movement, with a separate tracking link. Its overall summary says that part of the order is still on the way.
If one shade is later canceled, the display must reflect that quantity change without implying a third missing parcel. A useful first release supports the actual fulfillment patterns the store uses and gives staff a route to correct tracking associations. The customer can open support from the relevant shipment, so the team receives the order and package context rather than a vague 'where is it?' message.
SECTION 03
Accept reordered events and incomplete tracking
Test partial fulfillment, two packages with different carriers, a missing tracking number, a corrected tracking number and a delivered event arriving before an older transit event. The integration should not move a shipment backward merely because notifications arrived out of sequence. Confirm that repeated events do not send duplicate customer messages and that all ordered quantities remain accounted for.
A custom timeline creates ongoing responsibility for status mapping and provider changes. Prefer a simpler truthful display over animation that suggests more certainty than the data provides. Handoff should explain where staff correct errors, how customers see delayed updates and which system remains authoritative. Review notification subjects too: 'one shipment delivered' is more accurate than declaring the whole order complete prematurely.
SECTION 04
Frequently asked questions
Can one order have more than one tracking link?
Yes. Associate each link with the relevant shipment and show which purchased items and quantities it contains.
Does a tracking number mean the parcel has shipped?
Not always. A label may exist before the carrier has received the parcel, so use the provider's actual status.
Should every shipment event email the customer?
No. Choose useful milestones, suppress duplicate notifications and make clear which part of the order each message concerns.
PRIMARY REFERENCES
Sources and further reading
These references cover the standards, platforms, or published prices discussed in the guide. Worked examples and checklists are our editorial guidance.
EDITORIAL METHOD
About this guide
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Budget examples are not Catapult package prices. Check linked provider pages for current fees and plan limits before making a purchase.
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