đź’ˇ Allocation rules are available to Pan-EU (multiple fulfillment centers) brands only.
What are allocation rules?
Allocation rules define how shipments are assigned to fulfillment centers. With clear rules and priorities in place, you can:
Route shipments to the most suitable fulfillment center
Improve delivery speed and service levels
Keep fulfillment operations predictable
Lower costs by avoiding unnecessary cross-border shipments
How allocation rules work
An order is created in your shop platform and imported into Hive. Shipments are generated.
Each shipment is checked against your allocation rules in order of priority (top to bottom).
The first matching rule decides which FCs can process the shipment.
If allocation is successful, the shipment moves on to picking and packing.
If allocation fails, the system continues to the next rule until a match is found.
👉 Tip: Allocation rules priority matters. Place narrow rules at the top.
Rule structure
Each rule is made up of three parts:
Conditions: Define when the rule applies
Destination country (e.g., country = DE)
Shipping option (e.g., your Shopify shipping rate name for the order contains the word “Express”) (case-insensitive)
Payment method (e.g., your payment method name for the order is “COD”) (case-insensitive)
Address (e.g., the address contains the word “Marketplace”)
Packstation orders (the order is heading to a DHL Packstation) (boolean)
Actions: Define how the shipment should be allocated
Select preferred fulfillment center
Allow or block re-routing (more about re-routing at the bottom of the article)
Priority: Define the ranking of the rule. Rules with a higher priority get against checked first.
đź’ˇ Rule conditions within an allocation rule are connected by AND logic. This means that all conditions in the rule must be true at the same time for the rule to apply.
Because of this:
If you add multiple destination countries as conditions in the same rule, the system will expect all of them to match at once, which is not possible.
To create rules for multiple countries, you must set up separate rules for each country, instead of combining them into one.
Example:
Incorrect: One rule with conditions “Destination = DE” AND “Destination = FR”
This can never be true, because a shipment can only go to one country at a time.
Correct: Two rules
Rule 1: “Destination = DE” → Allocate to Berlin FC
Rule 2: “Destination = FR” → Allocate to Paris FC
Rule example: Country routing
Allocation rules are most commonly used to allocate shipments to fulfillment centers based on the country of destination.
- Domestic shipments can be routed to the nearest fulfillment center within the same country, reducing transit times and shipping costs.
- Cross-border shipments can be directed to a specific fulfillment center with the best conditions for international shipping.
Example: Country routing rule
Condition: Destination country = DE
Action: Allocate to fulfillment center POZ1
Re-Route if fulfillable
The Re-Route if fulfillable setting allows the system to skip a rule if the selected fulfillment center cannot fulfill the order due to lack of stock. This prevents orders from getting stuck at an out-of-stock fulfillment center, and ensures they are still shipped quickly if another fulfillment center can fulfill them in full.
If the chosen fulfillment center does not have stock for all items in the shipment, the rule is skipped.
The system then checks whether another fulfillment center has complete stock for the order.
If a matching fulfillment center is found, the order is re-routed there.
If no other fulfillment center can fulfill the full order, the system continues down the allocation rule list, from the highest to the lowest priority rule.