Tips for logistics management during Black Friday sales and the Christmas season
Black Friday sales, Christmas, and the New Year’s holiday period are notoriously the busiest times of the year for most retail businesses in Australia. While this is great for sales, it also means it can be a make-or-break period for companies that rely on the holiday boost. Therefore, business needs to prepare for the influx of extra stock and customers that will occur in the coming months ahead. This includes preplanning and logistics management with freight companies and logistics partners.
Prepare for unexpected delays
Luckily most of the challenging logistics backlogs that began with the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns have been resolved with time, and the 2023 season should so far have less hiccups and delays. However, there has of course been further issues that have popped up over the last couple of years including supply chain shocks, floods, and rising prices caused by inflation. It is recommended to prepare in advance to ensure all your stock arrives on shelves on time and integrate a time buffer in case of any unexpected disruptions that may occur during the freight delivery to stores. In most circumstances, it is better to have the stock available a day early, compared to a day late.
Prepare your systems for online orders
The demand for online shopping has rapidly accelerated over the past decade, with a surge each Black Friday sales and Christmas period. It is important to prepare your business website and systems for increased capacity around this sale period – especially if you are planning on having any online flash sales or limited-edition items. It is essential to integrate accurate live business intelligence and freight management software to assess where orders are coming from/ to and whether they will be collected from a store or 3pl warehouse. Customers rely on accurate reporting of stock and items to ensure there are correct numbers available. They don’t want to find out the item they have bought is sold out due to order double-ups or misaligned stock tracking.
Flexible Logistics Management and Solutions
For retail stores with limited space, overstocking can become a huge concern around busy Christmas periods. The store can run out of storage space, leading to hazardous, inconvenient, or expensive alternative solutions. Alternatively, the stock delivered in-store does not end up getting sold as way too much was delivered in the first place. In these circumstances, liaise with your 3pl warehouse and/or retail transport provider to find out if they have an appropriate solution for your business. Whether it is holding excess supply in a retail logistics management warehouse, or ‘drip-feeding’ stock into stores over consecutive days to ensure store space. Partnering with a dedicated logistics management company can help ease some of the problems and stress that occur around the holiday season.
Ensure stock visibility for customers
It is important for internal teams to have visibility over their products with good reporting software. However, it is equally as important for customers to get a good understanding of where their purchases are if they have ordered online. Keep the customer informed and improve satisfaction by providing them with delivery estimates before they purchase the product. Follow this up with live tracking and updated estimates when circumstances change. If the customer opted to pickup in store, it is important for them to know when the stock has arrived and when it is suitable to pick up. Whilst most of these suggestions may seem intuitive, it is important they are automated and integrated into your logistics management with the most up-to-date software, so that they can occur at an increased capacity during busy periods.
Logistics Management Partnerships during Christmas Periods
Are you looking for a logistics management partner to help support your business over the busy Christmas, New Year’s, and Holiday period? Look no further than Elite Logistics Australia. Our team of experts are veterans in the 3pl warehousing and retail transport industry. We pride ourselves on our integration of the best technology solutions to ensure all your stock is tracked and accounted for with pinpoint accuracy.
To find out more about what solutions we offer for your business, get in contact with us today by calling 1300 652 157 or filling out our online contact form.