The last quarter of the year is traditionally the best for many stores and webshops. The number of significant events in Q4 is no small matter. We’re talking about Singles Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the end-of-year period. During these peak times, you’re fully immersed in picking, packing, and shipping packages to ensure you can serve all your customers on time. After these peak moments, sales tend to slow down again. Time to catch your breath and take a moment of relative calm. However, this period is particularly interesting to better prepare for the next peak moments and optimize your warehouse!
Keep the warehouse clean
Peak times often lead to chaos in the warehouse. That’s normal because you’re doing everything you can to process sales orders on time. It’s incredibly important to maintain order and cleanliness. There are probably certain rules regarding order and cleanliness in the warehouse, but an extra clean-up after a peak season is recommended. You can remove excess cardboard from the shelves, clean the floor, sort the waste, and so on. A clean warehouse improves the work atmosphere, leading to higher productivity and fewer mistakes. It’s an often overlooked factor, but one that can have significant consequences. You wouldn’t want one of your employees to have an accident in a messy and dirty warehouse during peak times.
Analyze the data
The peak periods in Q4 provide a wealth of information. This data should be analyzed carefully so you can base future peak moments and marketing campaigns on it. The statistics on sold products are particularly important. Analyze these statistics and base your purchasing strategy on these figures. Such data also gives you an indication of how much workforce you’ll need during peak times, how much packaging material you’ll need, and so on.
Negotiate new deals with suppliers and shipping partners
Have your sales figures taken a significant jump? The logical consequence is that you’ve purchased more products. Higher volumes with the same supplier can lead to a different pricing structure. Therefore, contact your suppliers to renegotiate the purchase price. A better purchase price means higher margins! The same applies to shipping partners. If, after analyzing the data, you find that your shipping volume with a particular partner has increased, you should renegotiate the shipping rates. A few cents per shipment may seem like little, but when you look at the overall picture, it can result in significant savings.
Reorganize the warehouse
There is always work in a warehouse. After a peak period like the end-of-year rush, you gain a lot of valuable data. One report you should often refer to in your warehouse is the one showing the most popular products. Why? Imagine your popular products are stored in all corners of the warehouse. You’ll waste a lot of time picking them. To optimize warehouse operations, popular products should be stored as close to the packing tables as possible. This way, you’ll cover less distance and can work more efficiently.
Do you have products with unusual dimensions? Then a reorganization might also be beneficial. Products with non-standard dimensions may take up more space than expected because they might be too wide, for example, but not very tall. A small reorganization in the warehouse could allow you to store these products more efficiently, thereby making better use of your space. For example, at Webship, we developed a customized storage method for Creafoam, Belgium’s most complete foam specialty store.
Contacting a fulfillment partner!
Maintaining a clean warehouse and reorganizing the space requires effort. Moreover, your sales don’t completely stop, so you still need to process orders. On top of that, there are many other tasks to juggle. So, there’s not much “peace and quiet” to be had unless you partner with a fulfillment center. A fulfillment center takes care of the logistics side of the webshop. This means you can fully focus on growing your webshop. The logistics side will perform much better since you’re working with a professional and specialized partner.
Partnering with a fulfillment center also means you can use their inventory management system. Webship has developed Webship Online, a modern inventory system that meets all your expectations. It allows you to easily check the status of your orders and view reports. Want to know what a fulfillment center can do for you? Contact Webship at hallo@webship.be or visit our website.
