Black Friday 2017: Is Your Warehouse Ready?

We’ve hit the ‘Golden Quarter’ of the financial year and many businesses will be eating, sleeping and breathing holiday sales for the next few weeks as Christmas approaches.

Your warehouse may have already noticed a sharp increase in your inventory demands, as  savvy shoppers start their Christmas shopping as early as October.  But more than ever, a large percentage of customers will be focused on buying on one day in particular: Black Friday.

Black Friday falls on Friday 24th November this year (2017) and is swiftly followed by a relatively new phenomenon – Cyber Monday (27th November). If the retailers that you supply are to profit from what has become one of the busiest shopping periods of the year, they’ll be entirely dependent on your warehouse operation to keep them fully stocked.

As a warehouse operator, you need to ensure that your ‘front of house’ is up-to-speed and your warehouse is completely prepared for a sharp increase in demand.

Here’s some top tips on how to prepare your warehouse and staff to make sure your company is truly ‘Black-Friday-ready’!

Check your inventory and move your stock around

Ensure your stock records are accurate and up-to-date.  Check your sales records for this time last year and move your proven best-sellers to the front and centre of your picking areas, for easy and fast retrieval. Seasonal stock that is guaranteed to fly off the shelves should not be tucked away at the back of your warehouse.

Also consider any special offers that may be running. You may well see a swift upswing in sales which may leave a sizeable dent in your supplies. Make sure that you can easily source and refill your stock quickly should you feel that demand may outstrip supply.

Assess your staffing levels

Brace yourself for the sudden influx of orders on Black Friday.  It’s crucial that you have enough staff on the ground to cope with all the extra work coming into your warehouse. Get in contact with a local agency to bring in temporary workers to cover your extra needs and to fill any regular staff absences.

Is your warehouse technology working?

Make sure your IT systems are fully functional prior to the big day. Check that your barcode readers are all working properly and that there are no ongoing faults or glitches that may seriously affect or disrupt the smooth order fulfillment processes you have in place. Make sure your warehouse management system is connected so you can keep a constant check on stock volumes and the tracking of orders.

Staff briefing and communications

Communication is key – brief your staff on the importance of Black Friday and make sure that they understand what is expected of them. Reinforce your reporting system to make sure that everyone knows what to do or who to contact should a breakdown occur during operations.

Don’t forget to communicate with your delivery companies – you’ll almost certainly be needing to book extra deliveries to cope with the volume of goods leaving the warehouse. Many delivery companies can provide extra services during this busy time.

Review your operations

Whether it’s following Black Friday or after the festive season, don’t forget to spend time reflecting on your performance.  Identify what worked well and what didn’t – you now have over 10 months to put things right and be in a better position for 2018. If you need support with automation solutions – from picking technologies, to conveyor systems or full warehouse management software solutions – you know where to find us.

Black Friday will always be a manic time of the year, but it can also be very profitable. Preparation is the key, so start now and get yourself prepared for one of the year’s biggest shopping days.