10 October 2021

Prepare your e-commerce warehouse for Black Friday

10 October 2021

Discover tips to handle the high volume of orders while ensuring the best performance of your ecommerce warehouse.

There are only a few days left until Black Friday, one of the most important and profitable periods for consumer-related sectors, particularly for e-commerce. For this year’s event, scheduled for the end of November, the expectation for e-commerce sales is high: according to surveys conducted by the Electronic Commerce Association, there will be an 18% increase compared to last year. The calculation considers sales from Thursday to Monday.

And the numbers don’t stop there. An average purchase receipt of €426 is estimated. A survey conducted by Google, commissioned by the marketing consultancy firm Provokers, with 1,500 people across the country, revealed that the purchase intention is 58% higher than last year.

In light of these promising estimates, the question remains: Is your company ready to take advantage of this positive wave of Black Friday?

It’s important to remember that Black Friday, the second most important event for retail, second only to Christmas, is not just an opportunity to increase sales. It is above all a golden opportunity for your company to acquire new customers and retain them. For this reason, having extremely efficient logistics is crucial. A survey conducted this year by Google for Father’s Day sales revealed the main reasons for shopping online:

35%: free or low-cost shipping
29%: attractive prices and promotions
24%: short delivery times
23%: possibility of in-store pickup
22%: availability of the product you want to purchase
21%: having good payment methods

Four of the most cited reasons are directly linked to good logistical execution; after all, deliveries need to be optimized; to have fast delivery times, your logistics must perform highly, especially in picking; to have the option of in-store pickup, your company’s logistics must be ready to serve the new multichannel consumer (omnichannel); and to ensure that the product the customer wants is always available for sale, good stock control is necessary.

Preparing to sell more

The estimates presented at the beginning of this text show that during Black Friday, companies should sell more. And, for this, it is essential to be prepared to handle the fast pace of order fulfillment. To close Black Friday successfully and in the most profitable way possible, you should review and resolve issues as soon as possible.

Evaluating the performance of intralogistics processes, warehouse space and layout, inventory control, and the technology used can help you be better prepared to face challenges even before they arise.

Here are some tips and points to consider to ensure the warehouse is ideally prepared for Black Friday sales.

Review warehouse operational performance and work organization

When evaluating how processes are going in your warehouse, you should try to answer questions such as:

1. Are the current processes clear, easy to understand, and execute?

2. Is the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) documented? Do you update SOP every time changes are made? Are warehouse staff regularly informed about changes and trained accordingly?

3. Do you have to resort to workarounds because your WMS or other technology systems are not up to date? (If this is your case, you may need new technology that is updated periodically).

4. Are all warehouse workers, including temporary employees hired during peak demand periods, adequately trained?

5. What happens if systems fail, Internet connectivity is lost, or mobile processing devices, forklifts, and other technologies do not work? What is your plan? Can you count on quick support from the technology company serving you?

6. Have you established inventory validation procedures?

7. Are your warehouse’s picking and overflow areas adequately organized for proper process execution?

8. Have you planned audits, cycle counts, and replacements?

9. Do you have all the active and functioning equipment and mobile devices for your workforce, including temporary workers?

10. Can you monitor your operation’s performance in real-time?

Evaluate your warehouse space, layout, and organization

For orders to be fulfilled with agility and assertiveness, it’s crucial to optimize space, define the best warehouse layout, and keep it always organized. If you want to succeed during Black Friday, pay attention to the points listed below:

1. Are all your warehouse placement areas clearly marked and labeled in an easy-to-read manner?

2. Are aisles and storage areas organized for easy and fast movement without errors?

3. If temporary excess stock has been added, is it easily accessible? Is it well organized?

4. Have you consolidated pallets to free up more rack positions (defragmentation)?

5. Have you ensured that picking areas are sufficiently stocked and that replenishment mechanisms are correctly parameterized/configured?

6. Are you ready to act quickly when there is a change in product profile, such as more than one position or a temporary position (dynamic addressing)?

7. Ensure that your warehouse has adequately defined order preparation areas and that lines are adequately balanced (high-turnover items should be in the best access and closest to shipping to reduce movement). It’s also important to be prepared for high-turnover goods inventory.

Real-time indicators help efficiently fulfill orders

During Black Friday, what customers expect most is for their orders to be served correctly, meaning the right product arrives at their home on time. To ensure this, it’s crucial to monitor all processes within your logistics, especially during this period of high order volume. There may be a bottleneck during process execution, and to prevent it from growing larger or even affecting customer service, there is only one way: have all performance indicators at hand.

It’s important that the WMS your company uses has the Visual Management solution, through which real-time information on the operation’s progress is presented. Additionally, you must have mobility, meaning these metrics must be available on mobile devices (such as tablets and smartphones), allowing you to monitor operations wherever you are and even more: you and your area managers can quickly move to the location where the error occurred and make the correction as quickly as possible.

With Visual Management, track the Perfect Order Rate and Order Fill Rate, check if the Complete Orders on Time metric (OTIF – On Time In Full) falls within acceptable standards, evaluate the accuracy of your operation’s inventory, and also quantify lost sales due to the unavailability of the requested item (Stock out). That’s why having real-time metrics makes a difference in your business, especially during periods of increased sales like Black Friday.

Check out some tips for making the most of Visual Management:

1. Use all the information provided by your WMS, analyze daily operations in detail, including order volume and daily shipments. Make sure to plan schedules and ensure that adequate resources are available to do the job.

2. Use your WMS dashboards to calculate service level targets, including hourly orders per employee, lines picked per hour per employee, etc. To encourage maximum performance, it’s interesting to have TVs in the warehouse where indicators are displayed in real-time. These monitors should be placed in strategic points in your warehouse where employees can see them.

Conduct “stress tests” on your warehouse now

Conducting a two-hour peak simulation can help you isolate and correct problematic areas/processes. Your technology and team must be able to deliver high performance under high-level conditions.

The “stress test” should be designed to test human resources, planning, established systems and procedures, as well as the technical aspects of your operation. Testing your workforce, especially in simulated conditions where there is a labor shortage, equipment issues, and system difficulties, will reveal how well your organization has prepared, planned, and trained.

Therefore, we list some important points to consider:

1. Evaluate order volume and operation speed. Is your WMS capable of handling the robust needs of high-speed, high-volume omnichannel and multichannel order fulfillment?

2. During the stress test, the following should be verified:

– Inventory and other adjustments
– Operational process flows
– Picking, Packing, and shipping
– Returns processing / Reverse logistics
– ERP system, accounting software
– Material handling solutions
– Automated systems (Pick-to-light and put-to-light)
– Mobile devices and printers
– Web portal: can your customers access all the information they need in real-time without external help from your company?
– Work of warehouse employees (permanent and temporary), customer service representatives, and support staff
– Internet connectivity, network, and WiFi solutions
– Real-time communications and visibility via mobile devices

Prepare for resource management and equipment maintenance

Evaluate and check your warehouse equipment and ensure that issues have been fully resolved to guarantee maximum efficiency of:

– Forklifts
– Stackers
– Conveyors
– Laptops, barcode readers, scanners, and barcode printers
– Material handling solutions

Additionally, ensure that your warehouse has adequate stock in case of malfunction or wear: batteries, cables, power cords, replacement devices, and equipment, etc.

Achieve success during Black Friday with planning

As Black Friday approaches, the logistics and supply chain sector must be fully prepared. Consumers are increasingly demanding and have proven to be fickle when annoyed by delays and order errors.

So, to succeed in sales, invest in technology. And don’t forget to conduct a thorough check of operational processes to identify weaknesses that can be resolved before Black Friday occurs. With preparation, good management, and the help of technology, your company will have everything to achieve the desired profitability, conquer new customers, and retain old ones through a high standard of service.


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