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## title: Store Allocation

Store Allocation is Rendr's engine for determining which store should fulfil a delivery for a given customer. Rather than hardcoding store assignment in your system, you can query Rendr to get a ranked list of eligible stores based on proximity to the delivery address, earliest available processing time, or a combination of both — depending on your configured strategy.

This is particularly valuable for merchants operating multiple fulfilment locations, where choosing the wrong store can mean slower delivery windows, higher shipping costs, or missed cut-offs.

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## How It Works

You submit a destination address (as latitude/longitude) and an optional list of candidate stores. Rendr evaluates each store against its opening hours, pickup hours, processing time, and configured cut-off logic, then returns a ranked list with estimated distances and earliest processing times.

The ranking strategy is configured at the brand level and determines how stores are prioritised:

| Strategy                 | Behaviour                                                                                                                                                  |
| ------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `distance_only`          | Ranks by straight-line distance. Best for simple single-zone operations.                                                                                   |
| `time_and_distance`      | Calculates earliest processing time per store but ranks primarily by distance, using time as a tie-break.                                                  |
| `timeline_over_distance` | Prioritises the store that can process the order earliest, then uses distance as a tie-break. Best for operations where speed matters more than proximity. |

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## When to Use It

Store allocation is designed to be called before creating a delivery — typically at the point where your system needs to decide which store to assign the order to. The `store_id` returned from the allocation response can then be passed directly into the Create Delivery or Quote request.

It can also be used asynchronously for high-volume scenarios where allocation decisions need to happen in the background before the order is dispatched.

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## API Reference

See the [Store Allocation API](/api-reference/store-allocation/allocation-api) for the full request and response schema, including async usage and candidate store filtering.