White Friday: Key Strategies for Navigating Major E-commerce Events
Global intralogistics brand shares tips for 3PL providers and suppliers in the Middle East to prepare for surging orders, including:
Thoroughly and comprehensively evaluate facilities and materials flows
Leverage automation, real-time inventory tracking, and data analytics
Prepare dedicated processes for effective returns management
Before White Friday 2023 starts on November 24, SSI Schaefer, a global leader in intralogistics and automated warehouses, is sharing essential strategies and solutions for Middle East-based suppliers to overcome common challenges and capitalize on the region’s largest E-commerce event of the year.
Under the strain of high E-commerce customer demand during White Friday, breakdowns and bottlenecks in fulfillment capabilities often come to light, ultimately impacting consumers by causing delays and delivery of incorrect or damaged products.
Key logistics challenges on White Friday
Unpredictability of demand: Both overestimating and underestimating demand often occur, resulting in overstocking and stockouts, respectively.
Delivery time limits: Customers are becoming increasingly used to having the option for express and even same-day delivery.
Inefficient warehouse infrastructure and processes: Facilities not designed for high-volume processing result in inaccuracies and delays.
Scaling up staffing: Insufficient workforce and shift coverage increases fulfillment times and error rates.
Returns management: As generous returns policies become standard, high volumes of returned goods must be efficiently vetted, processed, and restocked.
Solutions for suppliers
1. Evaluate all angles of facilities and processes
With all the intricacies of E-commerce fulfillment — across receiving, picking, storing, packing, and shipping — a comprehensive look at warehouse design and material flows allows suppliers to fully understand and take corrective action to:
Solve bottlenecks
Ensure system performance can realistically match actual demand
Maximize storage density
Maximize process efficiency
To successfully harness peak seasons like White Friday, SSI Schaefer often utilizes its extensive intralogistics expertise to help customers in these areas — by attaining a full understanding of their business and volumes, collecting data, observing operations, pinpointing bottlenecks, and then providing fit-to-purpose solutions.
2. Leverage warehouse automation, real-time inventory tracking and data analytics
Intelligent automation solutions, such as automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) and conveyor systems, future-proof warehouses and greatly boost order fulfillment speed and accuracy, ensuring facilities are prepared for surges in demand and future expansion.
Also essential to handling fluctuating demand, digital solutions such as SSI Schaefer’s WAMAS® end-to-end software provide:
Real-time inventory tracking for full visibility and control over warehouse operations
Data analytics and predictive algorithms to analyze historical data, identify patterns, forecast demand, and plan inventory levels with greater precision
3. Establish dedicated processes for effective returns management
Processing high volumes of returns requires additional measures, including:
Dedicated returns sorting systems: Specialized sorting through conveyors, robots, and barcode or RFID-based systems enable efficient categorization and processing.
Efficient re-stocking process: Once goods are approved to sell again, they must be quickly returned to inventory for resale.
Multi-channel returns handling: For suppliers who sell through different sales channels, it is necessary to have a centralized system capable of handling each.