To prepare for the holiday rush, examine every area of the Warehousing Management System (WMS) that might require additional assistance or straighten out before the unexpected volume increase and catches the business off guard. Warehousing companies like AWL India automate as many tasks as they can without overburdening the system with hefty operational costs and an increase in human resources, which would eventually pace them up in speed and profit. For businesses to best prepare for handling the surge in demand throughout the holiday seasons, in-house experts at AWL India have gathered some great suggestions. Businesses may take efforts to get their warehouse and workforce ready for the busy season in addition to getting their WMS ready and prepared for the seasonal battle.
The holiday rush is followed by post-holiday refunds and post-holiday marketing. Updating the inventory status provides business salespeople with the chance to view what is available for sale and cut down on overstock. Businesses plan their techniques for coping with the stuff that won't sell because it will always exist. Inventory management systems at AWL India provide real-time inventory management and in-store transfer via the WASS (Warehouse As A Service) management system.
This is the foremost and the most important thing to start with. Stocking up early is very essential to guarantee that businesses have the products available as orders come in due to delivery delays. To find out what sells well over the holiday season, the automated warehouse management systems just like at AWL India provide previous reports from a single dashboard to clients making sure to stock up on in-demand seasonal products.
Seasonal sales are the perfect opportunity to get rid of surplus inventory, but it is also crucial to plan for the high volume of sales and stock up appropriately. To strategically distribute inventory among a network of controlled warehouses, a smart inventory allocation technology like WAAS can assist in analysing regional demand. Greater regional utilisation enables quicker order fulfilment and greatly cuts logistics costs. By giving businesses information on the styles that are in high demand and are going to be required in large quantities during the peak holiday season and need to be kept in stock, new-age WMS help businesses make effective decisions. Taking lead time into account, it enables businesses to set notifications for when certain styles need to be reordered or refilled, preventing stockouts throughout the holiday shopping season. A modern WMS like WAAS at AWL India, as opposed to historical systems, boosts sales opportunities, offers complete stock visibility to all sales channels, and lowers stockpiles.
2. Dynamic Warehousing
As buyers demand more trending styles, colours, and sizes, the retailers especially the e-commerce businesses frequently struggle with warehouse capacity as they manage thousands of Stocks Keeping Units. Businesses with overcrowded warehouses frequently consider collaborating with warehousing management companies that are adequately equipped and use cloud-warehousing systems which is a must, especially during hectic holiday seasons. Instead of investing in larger storage spaces, it is always recommended to hire storage from supply chain management companies. Businesses might think about introducing a three-step classification of inventory to quicken order fulfilment and increase the picking area. These three categories are simple to understand and be automatically categorised according to their turnover by an efficient warehouse management system (WMS) like WAAS at AWL India.
a) Top selling products
b) Average selling products
c) Lowest selling products
Reduced travel time in the warehouse and less time spent looking for products and transferring them throughout the warehouse are the main goals of this inventory classification system. Warehousing companies can decrease picking time by placing top-selling items in the most accessible section of the warehouse facility, which is also close to the packaging area, ensuring that orders are completed without delay. In dynamic storage, different objects can be kept in the same bin without affecting pickers' ability to find things. It also maximizes the storage capacity by placing goods wherever there is room. Automation in inventory replenishment is essential to maintaining the supply chain's efficiency, regardless of the storage model employed.
3. Swift Fulfilment
The ability of the businesses to process orders swiftly is very important to the success of businesses especially during the busy holiday seasons when order volumes may soar high, and replenishment may take some time. But handling orders fast and precisely is very much possible with the help of an advanced warehouse management system that runs on robotics and AI, just like WAAS at AWL India. By developing automated replenishment and inventory optimization based on the order priority using an ultra-advanced modern WMS, it becomes simpler for warehousing management companies like AWL India to offer faster fulfilment services. By enabling the picking of more items in the smallest amount of time with effective wave-wise picking, labour hours can be reduced and ultimately a lot of warehousing cost is saved too. Additionally, giving serial numbers to the products can make it possible for the picker to see all the scanned item's attributes, including its details and product image to prevent selection mistakes and guarantee complete order correctness. Allocation and replenishment of products in the store are made easy nowadays with the help of a technologically advanced warehouse management system.
Order processing from all sales channels is integrated into modern warehousing management systems like WAAS at AWL India. To decrease the number of shipments, it prioritises orders and consolidates the packing of several orders from the same source in the pigeonhole at the packing station. This can save logistics expenses while supporting businesses’ sustainability aims.
For order fulfilment during the busy holiday season, many businesses also rely on temporary seasonal employees. Because of this, streamlining the training procedure is crucial for assisting new pickers in getting up to speed quickly. But the problem is that by the time this newly joined workforce gets completely trained and becomes speedy in fulfilment, rush season gets over. Warehouse services like WAAS are utilizing smart apps and intelligent dashboards to streamline the selection process making it simple to scale and onboard temporary personnel to get the job done without spending months on training.
Conclusion
To maintain a smooth flow of goods and get ready for the year's holiday peak season, businesses should priorities optimizing warehouse operations for speed, efficiency, and accuracy or hire advanced warehousing services that run on AI and cloud computing, like one at AWL India. Businesses can ship more orders now during every peak season and guarantee that customers receive the product promptly, thanks to the highly advanced warehouse management systems like WAAS at AWL India, automated replenishment technology, hi-tech inventory management systems, robotics and AI-powered warehousing processes. By implementing one or more of these strategies, businesses are streamlining and speeding up order processing during peak holiday seasons. Additionally, these operational improvements result in a first-rate client experience that enhances brand loyalty, aids merchants in expanding their businesses, encourages good customer feedback, and boosts profits even after the holiday rush has subsided.
Also Read: Top 5 Smart Warehouse Technologies You Need For Your Warehouse