As the busiest time of year approaches for retailers, it has never been more important to prepare to capitalise on increased demand. Now is the perfect time to ensure your strategy around everything involving stock, logistics and marketing is in place, ready to deliver in line with shoppers’ expectations.
These 3 top tips will help you to avoid some of the most common mistakes and pitfalls when it comes to stock and fulfilment during peak.
1. Manage your inventory and stock efficiently
Two common issues include not having enough stock available to accommodate sales, and not preparing stock ahead of time.
It’s all well and good watching the sales fly in throughout Christmas and January sales, but what happens afterwards? Without enough planning, you may find yourself running out of time, delivering products late, sending incorrect items and damaging your reputation. This causes retailers around the world to lose an average of $1.75 trillion per year due to mismanaged inventory.
Fulfilling multiple orders requires knowledge of precisely how much stock you have and where it is, before implementing sound processes to quickly and accurately ship to your customer. Successful multichannel logistics involves complex, dynamic, tech-forward solutions to inventory management. To avoid this problem, ensure you have your stock ready for distribution ahead of time, so that when orders come in, the fulfilment process can be as quick and streamlined as possible.
Digital technology and analytics bring heightened automation, merchandise visibility, and business intelligence to supply chain logistics, simplifying this process while reducing the likelihood of errors.
2. Automate fulfilment operations
One of the most critical parts of any fulfilment process is the preparation of outgoing stock, making sure it aligns with delivery timescales, such as next-day delivery.
Once an order has been placed, products need picking and packing into boxes, shipping labels need to be printed and then need attaching, with the product ready to begin its journey. This may sound relatively simple, however, it can get surprisingly tricky on mass. As such, automating these processes wherever possible can save time and improve accuracy.
3. Consider a 3PL
For many retailers, introducing a 3PL to help take care of fulfilment can be beneficial, particularly during peak.
While a 3PL does require additional budget, this cost can often be recovered through the lack of mistakes, the enhanced efficiency and the number of returning customers as a result.
Having a greater number of returning customers due to having an error-free, fast fulfilment service can be worth significant sums of money over the years, boosting reputation and customer loyalty at the same time.
Fulfilment during peak doesn’t have to be complicated
Fulfilment during peak doesn’t have to be complicated. Many people grow a retail business and try to continue using the same processes, without realising that they have outgrown your operations.
The best way to simplify fulfilment during peak is to assess whether your existing operations are meeting your requirements and looking for alternatives that could be beneficial for your business long-term.
Read the Modern Retail Guide to Ecommerce Fulfilment
Click here to read the Modern Retail Guide to Ecommerce Fulfilment. Topics include last-mile delivery, returns, parcel lockers, ecommerce shipping and much more…
Holly brings a wealth of experience in both print and digital publishing. As Modern Retail’s Content Editor, Holly is passionate about helping independent retailers to thrive in today’s ever-changing market.
