Stockpilot vs Picqer: which tool fits your e-commerce operation?

If you're running an e-commerce business in the Netherlands or Belgium, you've probably come across both Stockpilot and Picqer. Both are Dutch-built. Both help you manage inventory and orders. But they solve different problems at different layers of your operation.

Understanding where each tool fits helps you build the right stack for your business — and know when you might benefit from using both.

Different tools for different layers

Picqer is a dedicated Warehouse Management System. Their entire focus is what happens inside your warehouse: picking routes, batch processing, location management, team coordination. They've spent years making warehouse execution faster and more accurate.

Stockpilot is a multi-channel orchestration hub. It sits above your warehouse and connects everything: 80+ marketplaces, 20+ bookkeeping integrations, webshops, shipping carriers, and fulfillment systems. It includes lightweight WMS capabilities, but the core strength is keeping your entire operation synchronized.

Think of it as two layers of your e-commerce stack. Stockpilot orchestrates what needs to happen. Picqer executes warehouse operations. Many businesses need only the orchestration layer. Some need both.

What Picqer does exceptionally well

Picqer has perfected warehouse workflows for e-commerce. If you have a dedicated warehouse team processing hundreds of orders daily, their depth shows.

Optimized walking routes

Picqer's standout feature is walking route optimization. The system knows where every product sits in your warehouse and sorts picklists so your team walks the shortest possible path. For warehouses processing 500+ orders daily, this saves hours of walking time. Order pickers typically spend 60-80% of their time walking — reducing that distance directly reduces labor costs.

Singles and batch picking

Picqer noticed that 60-70% of webshop orders contain just one item. So they built "Singles" batches — pick all single-item orders in one massive run, then sort at the packing table. Scan a product, Picqer identifies the order, prints the label. This roughly doubles picking speed for the majority of orders.

For multi-item orders, batch picking with container separation lets you pick 12+ orders in one warehouse run. Each container on your cart represents one order. Back at the packing table, each container is ready to ship.

ABC analysis and location depth

Picqer tracks which products get picked most and labels them A (fast), B (medium), or C (slow). This helps you position fast movers near packing stations. The location system goes deep: zones, aisles, racks, shelves, bins — all numbered and optimized for walking routes.

Team coordination

When you have five, ten, or twenty people in a warehouse, coordination matters. Picqer handles multiple pickers working simultaneously, prevents conflicts, and keeps everyone moving efficiently.

What Stockpilot does exceptionally well

Stockpilot is the central hub for e-commerce sellers, which offers one dashboard for channels, inventory, orders, and fulfillment.

Integrations and order flow

Stockpilot connects directly to 80+ marketplaces and 20+ bookkeeping tools. Amazon, Bol.com, Kaufland, Decathlon, Carrefour, Etsy on the sales side. Exact, Moneybird, Yuki, Twinfield, AFAS on the accounting side. No middleware needed.

Orders flow in from all channels automatically. From there, you can operate directly in Stockpilot or use it as the middle layer that routes orders elsewhere — to your own warehouse, a 3PL partner, Amazon MCF, or a dedicated WMS like Picqer. Orders can split automatically when stock sits in different locations. Tracking numbers sync back to every channel.

Picqer connects to a solid set of sales channels like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Lightspeed, and Bol. When you want to sell on more marketplaces, you need a tool like Stockpilot to get orders from those channels into Picqer so your warehouse can pack and ship them.

Order and inventory management on steroids

This is what Stockpilot does really well. Buffer stock protects against overselling. Multi-warehouse support lets you offer combined stock from different locations — even when each warehouse holds only part of the total.

Low stock alerts work dynamically. Set a threshold like "2 weeks of stock" and Stockpilot calculates what that means based on your actual sales. One day that might be 54 units, the next day 56. When your offered stock hits the threshold, you get notified. No static numbers that go stale.

All of this syncs in real-time across every connected channel. Sell something on Amazon and your Bol.com listing updates instantly. Receive a purchase order and every marketplace reflects the new inventory. No delays, no overselling.

Purchasing

Stockpilot manages your full purchasing flow. Create purchase orders manually or with automated proposals, track incoming stock, manage suppliers. Demand forecasting helps you reorder at the right time based on sales velocity — not guesswork.

Lightweight WMS

Stockpilot includes warehouse capabilities: bin locations, a mobile scanning app for pick and pack, shipping rules, and PrintNode integration. For many sellers, this covers everything they need without a separate WMS.

When lightweight WMS is enough

Most e-commerce businesses don't need enterprise warehouse optimization. If you have a smaller team — say one to five people handling the warehouse — Stockpilot's built-in WMS likely does the job.

You can assign bin locations to products. Your team uses the mobile app to scan items during picking and packing. Purchase orders track incoming stock. Shipping labels print automatically based on rules you set. The workflow is guided and accurate.

Walking route optimization becomes critical when your warehouse is large and your team spends significant time walking between locations. If your warehouse fits in a reasonable space and one or two people handle picking, optimized routes matter less than having everything connected and synchronized.

When you need deeper WMS

Some operations genuinely need Picqer's depth. The signals are clear.

You need deeper WMS when your warehouse team grows beyond five people. Coordinating multiple pickers, preventing conflicts, and maximizing everyone's efficiency requires specialized tooling.

You need it when walking distance becomes a bottleneck. If your pickers are spending hours walking and the warehouse is large enough that route optimization would make a measurable difference, Picqer's sorting algorithms pay off.

You need it when order volume hits hundreds daily and batch picking with container separation would significantly speed up throughput.

You need it when singles processing would help — when 60-70% of your orders are single items and you want to pick them all in one run rather than order by order.

How they work together

Stockpilot and Picqer integrate. Orders flow from Stockpilot to Picqer, your warehouse team picks and packs with optimized routes, tracking numbers sync back to every marketplace. Inventory updates in Picqer flow back to Stockpilot and sync to all your channels in real-time. Two layers, one stack.

Most e-commerce businesses start with Stockpilot handling everything — channels, inventory, orders, and the built-in WMS for picking and packing. When warehouse complexity grows — bigger team, more walking, need for batch picking — you add Picqer underneath. Stockpilot keeps orchestrating. Picqer handles warehouse execution.

This isn't either/or. It's a growth path. Start where your biggest pain is. Add depth when you need it.