Determining how a company is going to transport product through the supply chain from the source to the customer is a complex challenge. It is more crucial than in the past, due to global sourcing and the multichannel nature of business. A multichannel merchant not only has to track inbound goods from offshore and domestic vendor, but it also has to handle outbound small-package delivery, often using zone skipping and vendor drop-shipping; replenish stores; cross-dock store receipts and in the warehouse to fill catalog and Web backorders; transport, consolidate, and process returns regardless of the channel where the customer purchased the product; and provide warehouse-to-warehouse transfers, inter-store transfers, and retail sends directly to the customer and receipt of goods at the warehouse closest to the vendor.