What to Watch For This Peak Season

Peak season is a great time to optimize your warehouse processes to get the most out of the biggest – and busiest – period of the year. Here are three things you can focus on this holiday shopping season to reap big rewards.

From Fast to Accurate

It’s time to focus on a more detail-oriented, rather than always-on, warehouse. Free shipping, even with a slightly later delivery date, makes customers feel as if they're getting a deal. Tracking keeps customers informed, relieving pressure on the delivery timeline. These offerings create increased expectations to get things right the first time, especially with annual mis-pick costs averaging $389,000 per organization. This peak season, focus on getting things right before getting them delivered quickly. Invest time in perfecting your picking and packing processes. Falling short in these crucial areas can result in spending time and resources to make a wrong right.

Greater Adoption of Advanced Analytics

Advanced analytics provide the knowledge you need to devise peak season strategy, increasing visibility into which processes to streamline before they're exposed to the holiday rush. By tracking purchase patterns over time, you can better understand what types of products sell during which months and seasons. This will give you the insight you need to handle higher demand and avoid a sellout.

Better Functionality in the Cloud

Even smaller companies new to the industry are investing in cloud services on the front end to gain access to advanced supply chain software, manage an influx of e-commerce sales, enhance picking and packing processes, and promote competition with larger organizations. Between the cloud and third-party logistics providers, small businesses have more options than ever to manage demand spikes.

Learn more about how you can maximize your peak season by reading the full article, “Rethink Fulfillment During Peak Season,” on Inbound Logistics. Contact Aptean for more information.