Black Friday 2015: How to prepare your warehouse

Whilst customers will be busy saving up their pennies for the big day, retailers need to ensure their plans and preparations are firmly in place, as to avoid some of the Black Friday mishaps that happened last year. Equally as important as making sure everything is ready ‘front of house’ is ensuring your warehouse is prepared for the increase in demand. Here are a few top tips to help you get Black-Friday-ready.

Check your inventory

Our first tip is to make sure your inventory records are up to date. You should have details of every product that you have in your warehouse, along with the total quantity. You may find it useful to divide your products up into categories.

Move your stock around

Try and determine which products are going to sell the fastest on Black Friday (look at sales figures and consider your offers) so you can work out where to position your stock in the warehouse. The most popular products and the ones you are going to have on offer should be positioned closest to your picking area, allowing for easy and quick retrieval.

Is your warehouse technology working?

Testing your technology prior to the Black Friday rush is highly recommended. Make sure your barcode readers are working properly and that your technology is connected up to your warehouse management system so you can keep track of orders and volumes of stock.

Check staff levels

Businesses should prepare to be flooded with orders on Black Friday and therefore need to make sure there is enough staff working in their warehouses. If you think you could be short of staff, now’s the time to start consulting with agencies so you can bring in temporary workers to cover the busy period.

Communicate is key

Make sure everyone knows how important Black Friday sales are to the business and what you expect from them. Communicating your intentions and plans early will help to ensure that everything runs smoothly on the day and the days following Black Friday, when you will be rushing to get orders out.

In addition to communicating with your team, you also need to make sure you communicate with the delivery companies you work with. Organising extra deliveries is essential. Make sure you are happy with the service provided by your delivery company. As you may know, some delivery companies struggled to get Black Friday orders out last year, so it’s crucial that you are working with a reliable company that you trust.

There’s no denying that Black Friday will be manic but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a success! Keep our warehouse preparation tips in mind so you can get the most out of the year’s biggest shopping day.