Customer order picking by delivery container

A computing system, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• at least one memory operably connected to the at least one processor;
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to:
• receive a data structure comprising container attributes for a container loaded with a plurality of items for a retail store;
• receive identifying information of the container in response to the container being received at the retail store;
• retrieve the container attributes based upon the identifying information;
• and
• identify, using the container attributes, from the plurality of items loaded in the container:
• i) one or more reserved items for fulfilling at least one customer order of a plurality of customer orders and ii) one or more general inventory items for an inventory of the retail store;
• in response to identifying one or more reserved items from the container attributes, generate an indicator flag for the container to indicate reserved items are present in the container;
• generate a pick list for the container to control a separation of the one or more reserved items from the one or more general inventory items, wherein the pick list identifies the one or more reserved items identified in the container separate from the one or more general inventory items, wherein the pick list correlates the reserved items in the container with the at least one customer order to indicate that the reserved items are to be allocated for fulfilling the at least one customer order;
• validate the pick list by determining whether the at least one customer order has been fulfilled using items from a different container in place of the one or more reserved items in the container;
• wherein the validating includes querying an order database for a status of one or more customer orders associated with an identified reserved item from the container;
• in response to the status indicating that the reserved items are still needed for a selected customer order, indicate the pick list as validated;
• and
• in response to the status for a selected reserved item does not correlate to a customer order, cause the selected reserved item to be merged into the general inventory.

A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:

• creating a data structure comprising container attributes for a container loaded with a plurality of items for a retail store;
• receiving identifying information of the container in response to the container being received at the retail store;
• retrieving the container attributes based upon the identifying information;
• identifying, using the container attributes, from the plurality of items loaded in the container:
• i) one or more reserved items for fulfilling at least one customer order of a plurality of customer orders and ii) one or more general inventory items for an inventory of the retail store;
• in response to identifying one or more reserved items from the container attributes, generating an indicator flag for the container to indicate reserved items are present in the container;
• in response to identifying the one or more reserved items for fulfilling at least one customer order of a plurality of customer orders and the one or more general inventory items:
• generating an electronic pick list for the container to control a separation of the one or more reserved items from the one or more general inventory items, wherein the electronic pick list identifies the reserved items in the container and the at least one customer order to indicate that the reserved items are allocated for fulfilling the at least one customer order;
• validating the pick list by determining whether the at least one customer order has been fulfilled using items from a different container in place of the one or more reserved items in the container;
• wherein the validating includes querying an order database for a status of one or more customer orders associated with an identified reserved item from the container;
• in response to the status indicating that the reserved items are still needed for a selected customer order, indicating the pick list as validated;
• and
• in response to the status for a selected reserved item does not correlate to a customer order, causing the selected reserved item to be merged into the general inventory.