At each end of the year, during the winter holidays, the volume of purchases increases by at least 5.5% each year, as announced by the Federation of Retail Companies, which brings together members from the United States and other 45 countries around the world.
Because there is so little time until the shopping fever begins, it’s time to make sure you’ve reviewed the processes and that the warehouse is ready to cover sales growth. We have divided the 3-phase peak season for which we come up with some tips that we hope will help you outperform well with the best results in the winter season, where we can easily include Black Friday.
Before the peak season
If you want to be well prepared for the shopping season, you have to have a strategic plan.
For beginners, you need to perform a stock audit to make sure you have enough space for extra stocks. Analyze the results for the previous year in the same period to see which were the most sold items and which were sold the fastest. If you have a warehouse management system (WMS), you can manage this data much easier, being more easily accessible and simplify the inventory process.
It is important to make sure you have enough space in the warehouse, not just for storage, but also for order preparation. The WMS also provides you with the necessary data for a reorganization of the warehouse, moving the most popular items as close as possible so as to reduce picking time.
During the peak season
In order to meet the requirements, you may need to supplement staff with fixed-term employees, especially for repetitive tasks that do not require much experience so that you do not have any delays in fulfilling your orders.
With temporary employees taking up the lighter tasks in the warehouse, the most experienced can handle more complicated tasks.
Employing seasonal staff requires simple, easy-to-learn processes. And the WMS system, along with the use of barcodes, can make this process much easier, operators being guided every step by handheld.
After the peak season
Not all products bought by Black Friday or holiday come to the likes of buyers, so after this season of shopping madness, you can expect to increase the number of returns at once. Another process that needs to be accomplished quickly and accurately.
Also with a WMS system the problem of returns can be solved. You can set up WMS to certain rules, helping you develop a flow for returned products based on the product type, the reasons for the return, and whether they can be resold.
These are our tips for all who want to be ready for Black Friday and holiday shopping. You should hurry to put them into practice, because the peak season is approaching with extremely fast steps!
