02 May
Peak seasons are great for making huge sales, but without a robust order fulfilment strategy, many eCommerce retailers can fall short and risk losing customers.
2023 was a busy year for eCommerce, with worldwide sales reaching an astounding $6.3 trillion, a sharp increase from 2022, and this number shows no signs of stopping. Peak seasons present a lucrative opportunity for eCommerce growth, and with a solid strategy, you can turn this potential into reality.
The best way to create your plan for the upcoming peak season is by learning from 2023’s eCommerce trends. Here’s a look at 7 lessons we’ve learned from 2023’s busiest eCommerce season.
What Is Peak Season Shopping?
Peak seasons fall during holidays such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, as many customers want to purchase gifts, buy new goods for themselves or take advantage of great sales incentives.
Some eCommerce companies also experience a sales peak during Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and other regional holidays. However, most sales often occur during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as these days are notorious for discounted prices and major sales initiatives.
In peak season, order and shipment volumes increase significantly, leading to higher fulfilment rates and a busier returns process. In addition, supply chains experience a drop in efficiency due to disruptions. This can make it difficult for eCommerce brands to keep up with sales demands, manage their inventory and fulfil high volumes of orders.
What Are The Common Challenges During Peak Season?
Peak shopping season can cause major disruptions for shipping warehouses. Problems such as these strain the relationship between eCommerce and fulfilment centres.
To create your peak season strategy, you must identify the challenges and find ways to overcome them. Here are some common concerns during the busy sales season.
Order Volume
One of the biggest issues during peak season shipping is the volume of orders. Due to significant sales, customers are more likely to make more purchases during this period. With online shopping making it easier to place orders, eCommerce companies should expect a high order volume.
Often, these orders can build up and become overwhelming to ship out. Preparation is key if you want to avoid volume issues. Optimising your shipments and prioritising supply chain resilience are excellent ways of combatting volume issues and sending out orders as soon as possible.
A quality 3PL service will help you keep track of your inventory and provide accurate logistics that help you map out deliveries. These features are crucial to stay on top of high-volume orders.
Season-Specific Sales
As we’ve mentioned, high volume is one of the major disruptions during a peak season. However, season-specific sales can worsen this issue as consumers are willing to purchase more during this period. This is why eCommerce stores must implement proper techniques to manage busy seasons.
Peak season can become extremely chaotic and overwhelming for online businesses without proper management, leading to devastating sales consequences.
Speed of Delivery
Order fulfilment and shipment speed matters more than ever during the peak season. If your business relies on other manufacturers or uses dropshipping, know these services will increase demand during peak season.
Without an optimised schedule, you could experience severe delays or shortages. Make sure to discuss with your services beforehand how your deliveries will be handled to minimise disruptions.
Order Accuracy
Speed and order accuracy go hand in hand because consumers want you to get their order exactly right, especially during the peak holiday season when getting returns is hard. This means your order fulfilment should maintain accuracy to avoid dissatisfied customers.
You may need to go beyond manual fulfilment to maintain speed and accuracy. Investing in 3PL services will help you keep things organised and get the order out on time.
Unreliable 3PLs
If you partner with a 3PL, ensure they have the technology, experience and expertise to handle peak shipping season. Choosing the wrong 3PL service can cause disorganisation in your order fulfilment process. This can lead to inaccurate order processing, missed shipments, slower deliveries and inaccurate inventory checks.
A good 3PL partner should always provide visibility and transparency into all supply chain management features, including storage details, real-time inventory information, fulfilment and delivery performance and much more.
If unsatisfied with your current 3PL service, consider switching as soon as possible to prepare for the upcoming year’s peak season. Choosing technology-based 3PL, like Meteor Space, can help you get orders out quickly and ensure smooth sailing in busy seasons.
7 Lessons For Managing Peak Season Fulfilment
Once you’ve identified the challenges of order fulfilment during peak season, you can create a robust strategy to streamline your fulfilment service. This strategy should be designed well before the busy season to ensure preparation. Here are 7 seven lessons for managing peak season in the upcoming year.
1.Do Research And Planning
Some eCommerce businesses falter during peak season due to a lack of preparation. Dealing with supply chain and inventory issues right in the middle of the busy can lead to disastrous results.
Forecasting your fulfilment requirement in advance will ensure you avoid any problems. You can lay the groundwork for a successful peak shopping season with proper research.
One of the easiest ways to research is by observing customer behaviour and perceptions. With this date, you can draw up an ideal buyer profile to impact how you plan your fulfilment strategy. This plan will ensure that targeted strategies will lead to higher customer conversion rates.
2.Prepare Your Staff
Without a well-prepared workforce, your supply chain could experience several delays and errors, causing frustration for customers.
To efficiently manage the peak season, you need a skilled workforce ready to take on high order volumes. This staff should effectively handle order surges to ensure all items are packed properly and shipped out on time.
You can conduct training sessions where each staff member is assigned multiple roles so they can help where they are needed the most during the busy season. Leveraging technology can optimise team members.
Modern warehouse management software provides real-time data, allowing companies to make informed staffing choices. Additionally, you can provide workers with incentives to increase motivation and boost morale.
3.Manage Your Stock Levels
In the busy sales season, products will likely go out of stock quickly. Following the ideal buyer profile, you can find out which products leave the warehouse faster.
With your research, you should know how many units to stock and which items will be the most popular and need restocking as soon as possible. If you run a logistics warehouse, make sure to check in with the manufacturers to avoid stock delays.
4.Use Technology To Optimise Fulfilment
In recent years, technology has evolved and improved several business sectors. Fulfilment service centres can leverage technology to optimise their order fulfilment process for the upcoming busy season.
High-quality software can improve efficiency across the workforce and ensure no human errors occur. For example, in order management, handy tools can automate tasks like inventory tracking, order processing, stock level monitoring and shipping.
Automating these tasks reduces manual errors, speeds up processing, and accurately fulfils orders.
5.Enhance Your Warehouse’s Layout
During peak seasons, product warehouses have a lot of foot traffic, so effectively managing the space is crucial. Inefficient warehouse layouts may lead to delays and even injuries in more cases. Some of the key elements to consider when designing your warehouse include the following:
- The space and size of the location.
- Location and features of the warehouse, including the picking and packing station, the loading dock and the returns area.
- The ability to find skilled staff.
- The warehouse’s capacity for potential growth in the future.
Once you’ve selected the ideal space, you must map out all the stations to ensure an efficient workflow. Measure the warehouse and identify any obstacles that hinder movement. Your layout should also account for machinery such as forklifts, providing them with a safe operation space.
Apart from the necessary picking, packing, shipping and returns stations, you might also need refrigerated or hygienic spaces for perishable goods. Instal sturdy shelving units with ample space to maintain proper organisation and ensure labels are always visible.
6.Use Innovative Slotting Techniques
After optimising the layout of the warehouse, you can also use a dynamic approach to storing products. The slotting technique is crucial for fulfilment warehouses because it ensures all quick-selling items are easily accessible.
To apply this technique, you must analyse your sales data to identify items that sell out quickly. You can also use warehouse management software to aid in this technique.
Train your staff and make them familiar with the slotting technique. You should also allow team members access to analytics to help them optimise stock organisation.
7.Make Way For A Smooth Returns Process
Peak season brings about a lot of sales, but it also means high returns. Customers might return items due to defective or damaged products, but some return items because they didn’t meet their expectations. In any case, fulfilment centres should have a simple returns process that will make things easier for you, the manufacturers and the customers.
Investing in high-quality warehouse management software is one of the best ways to deal with such issues. This software will categorise all your products, making it easier to solve issues. You should also maintain clear communication with customers to help them navigate the returns process efficiently.
How Meteor Space Helps With Peak Season Fulfilment
If you’re looking for a quality 3PL service that streamlines order fulfilment, choose Meteor Space. We offer many features designed to help eCommerce stores through peak shopping seasons.
Our technology-based services provide excellent management and organisation programs to help you stay on top of your inventory. You can also access an easy-to-use web portal, efficient pick and pack fulfilment, fast shipping and much more.
At Meteor, we employ a customer-first approach, so we understand the importance of top-quality customer service. Here’s a look at some great features you can avail of at Meteor Space.
Flexible Storage Space Options
Flexibility is key during peak shopping seasons. Depending on your order volume, Meteor’s storage space offering can be scaled down or up to meet your demands. Our warehouse boasts over 200,000 square feet of storage space to ensure ample room for any inventory.
No matter the size of your eCommerce stores, Meteor 3PL can provide enough space for any client. We can adjust and adapt to your specific requirements, help you grow overall sales, and provide your customers with a great shopping experience.
Better Inventory Logistics
Successful order fulfilment relies heavily on inventory management and logistics. With a technology-based 3PL like Meteor Space, we provide accurate data and management software that helps you stay organised.
With our state-of-the-art warehouse management system, you can keep track of all your inventory and make sure it goes out on time. You can access precise inventory projections based on the type of order you’re sending out.
We also handle all deliveries and shipments, refilling your inventory and much more. With Meteor Space as your 3PL partner, you never have to worry about running out of stock or experiencing any delays in the supply chain.
Same Day Dispatch
Since customers are far less forgiving of delays during the busy season, opting for a 3PL that prioritises speedy fulfilment is necessary. At Meteor, we take great pride in our accuracy and speed. Our dedicated warehouse team takes orders as late as 8 p.m., allowing them to be delivered and dispatched on the same day.
Our accurate order fulfilment process leaves no chance for mistakes or returns. If your eCommerce store has urgent orders to send out, this feature is crucial. We offer same-day delivery throughout the island of Ireland and the UK to ensure customers have a pleasant experience.
Knowledgeable and Friendly Experts
Our team members provide excellent order fulfilment services, expert advice and guidelines to help navigate busy shopping seasons. Our highly trained and knowledgeable team are always available to offer a helping hand when it comes to logistics and inventory services.
At Meteor, you will find transparency and full knowledge of everything that goes behind the scenes to get your order ready for shipment. This allows you to stay current with how your orders are processed. Our experts are available 24/7 to help you manage the supply chain and stay on top of your order in the upcoming peak season.
