Fulfilment Speed Challenge
Challenge · Hosted by Northwind Retail. A third of online orders are picked in a shop by someone also serving customers, and the same-day promise slips.
About this open call
What this event is about
Collection and ship-from-store orders are picked by associates between customers, and the same-day promise is missed most often on short picks and on three separate walks of the same aisles. We want the picking sequenced and batched on the handset, with the substitution decided at the shelf.
What we are looking for
Startups with software that sequences and batches in-store picking and can show it running against real order and stock data rather than a simulation.
Problem statements
The item that is not on the shelf
Stock says one, the shelf has none, and the picker finds out with the order half-assembled. The substitute or the refund is then decided by someone else, hours later, on the phone to a customer who has already left work.
Three walks of the same aisle
Lists are released in the sequence orders arrive, so a picker crosses the same fixtures once per order. Nothing merges them, and nothing accounts for the picker being called to a till halfway through.
Peak, with the same staff
Volumes roughly triple in the six weeks to Christmas and no extra pickers are hired. What holds on a quiet Tuesday and falls over on a December Saturday is not an answer to this.
Evaluation criteria
100% weighted total
Timeline
- Jul 13, 2026
Brief published
Scoped with the fulfilment team after a summer of missed collection slots.
- Jul 31, 2026
Order data released
A month of anonymised orders and matching stock positions from eight shops, for entrants who have joined.
- Aug 1, 2026
Entries and questions open
Entries are read as they arrive, and the fulfilment team answers questions in writing while the window is open.
- Nov 17, 2026
Pilot decision
Shortlisted teams work a picking shift in a shop, and one takes the pilot for the pre-Christmas weeks.
Sponsors & partners
Northwind Retail
Host
ETH Zürich
Technical partner
FAQs
Is there real order data to work with?
Yes: a month of anonymised collection and ship-from-store orders with the matching stock positions from eight shops, released once you join. The short picks are in there, and they are the interesting rows.
Does it have to run on the shop handsets?
The picker's end does, on the Android handsets already in the shops. The planning can run wherever you host it, provided a re-plan reaches the picker in seconds rather than minutes.
Do we own the conversation with the customer about a substitution?
No. The decision at the shelf is yours; the message goes out through the existing order system, so name the fields you would write to.
Take part
Submit your entry before the deadline. Every entry is scored against the criteria above.