Cover Story: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Prepping Your Warehouse for the Holiday Rush

We're five months away from Christmas. That means it's time for retailers to start thinking about the holiday rush.

For many retailers, the holiday season can be bittersweet. Sales are up, but so is the stress. And while it's almost inevitable that retailers will hit a few snags along the way, the sooner you start preparing, the lower your blood pressure will be and the less likely that those snags will cause you to lose sales.

Here are some things that retailers can be doing now to start preparing their distribution centers for the holidays:

1. Stock up. In the past, the online holiday shopping season has unofficially commenced with Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving. While Cyber Monday is still a huge day for online retailers, consumers are getting started earlier each year, which means retailers should too.

One of the most important items to check off your holiday prep list is beefing up your supplies. This includes not only your inventory, but also packaging, tape, filler, labels and everything else you need to fill orders and keep your business running smoothly. Now is a good time to analyze your holiday sales from last year, reaffirm any issues you may have had with inventory shortages, and start reaching out to suppliers to place your holiday stock orders.

2. Plan for seasonal staff. One of the biggest benefits of outsourcing order fulfillment is scalability. Part of which means that, as your order volume fluctuates, it's the fulfillment provider's job to adjust its staffing needs while your cost per order remains fairly consistent.

For online retailers that handle their own fulfillment, however, warehouse staffing is often a significant issue to address during the holiday season. Now is a good time to review your sales and staffing changes from last year and, based on your sales so far this year along with any product changes and/or holiday promotions planned, try to project your sales and staffing needs for this holiday season.

As you're considering how best to plan for seasonal staff, consider overtime vs. temporary employees. While overtime pay can be costly, so too is training new hires. The lower order output from those new hires should also be factored in.

3. Evaluate technology. Technology is the backbone of logistics. As order volume increases, technology is often put to the test, which means now is also the time to identify any software or equipment deficiencies, as well as to test how your existing technology handles a significantly greater load.

In general, but especially during the holiday season, it's important to have backup systems and equipment in place should something go wrong. It's also a good idea to evaluate technology projects that are currently in the works. For any that won't be done in the near future, think about holding off on completion until next year.

As an online retailer, there's a lot to consider and do before the holiday season. Make things a little easier on yourself and start planning for Christmas in July!

Steve Bulger is the marketing manager of eFulfillment Service, an order fulfillment service provider. Steve can be reached at bulger.s@efulfillmentservice.com.