Systems and methods for parallelizing customer input with real-time picking for item substitutions

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

• receive an order at a management module from a customer for a plurality of items;
• create a pick list with the management module including the plurality of items;
• send the pick list from the management module to a handheld electronic device associated with a first picker to retrieve the plurality of items;
• receive a substitution request at the management module from the handheld electronic device including an indication of a first item of the plurality of items that is not available, the substitution request comprising at least an image including one or more substitute items that are available;
• send the substitution request, with the image and one or more indicia added to the image, from the management module to a customer's electronic device including at least the first item and the one or more substitute items, wherein the one or more indicia added to the image correspond to and enable user selection among the one or more substitute items;
• receive a response to the substitution request at the management module from the customer's electronic device;
• and
• send a modified version of the image depicting a user selection among the one or more substitute items from the management module to the handheld electronic device.

A system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
• receive an order from a customer for a plurality of items;
• create a pick list including the plurality of items;
• send the pick list to a handheld electronic device associated with a first picker to retrieve the plurality of items;
• receive a substitution request from the handheld electronic device including an indication of a first item of the plurality of items that is not available, the substitution request comprising at least an image including one or more substitute items that are available;
• send the substitution request, with the image and one or more indicia added to the image, to a customer's electronic device including at least the first item and the one or more substitute items, wherein the one or more indicia added to the image correspond to and enable user selection among the one or more substitute items;
• receive a response to the substitution request from the customer's electronic device;
• and
• send a modified version of the image depicting a user selection among the one or more substitute items to the handheld electronic device.