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The festive season necessitates a great deal of planning and preparation for businesses that handle orders that must be fulfilled. With an increase in the number of orders, it is natural that having the right tools and plans in place can help make the entire process run more smoothly. The best way to prepare for the upcoming peak season is to plan ahead of time and avoid the five most common fulfillment logistics mistakes listed below.
1. Inventory management
The most common error in fulfillment logistics is having an unorganized inventory. This could result in a variety of problems. For starters, you won't know how many of each product are available at any given time. Customers may thus purchase items only to have their orders cancelled. The incorrect item may also be shipped, or your orders may be delayed due to the additional time required for packaging.
Inventory mismanagement is a common problem for businesses of all sizes, and it can result in a loss of profitability and a negative review. You can avoid this problem during peak season by planning ahead of time.
2. Preparation
Aside from organizing your inventory, you will need to plan ahead of time with your shipment companies and labor force. To avoid delays during the holiday season, a larger turnout is usually required. Hiring temporary help or anticipating how much overtime will be required can be beneficial.
You should also contact the shipping company to confirm the expected delivery timeframe. Fulfillment logistics is the process of gathering as much information about what to expect ahead of time as possible so that when the time comes, you are well prepared and can set appropriate expectations for your customers.
3. Allow for Delays
Customers now expect products to be delivered more quickly than ever before. As part of fulfillment logistics, you must confirm the expected time frame for deliveries and account for any shipment delays. Many carriers will struggle to handle all of the shipments during peak season. By planning ahead of time and being aware of potential delays in the shipment of your products, you can ensure that the timeframe you provide your customers is accurate.
Getting your shipments to your customers faster and within your pre-determined delivery timeframe can help you improve your customer satisfaction rates. Customers have high expectations for how you will deliver their goods. The only way to meet these expectations is to scale your operations using the most recent delivery strategy.
Download this Whitepaper to learn 5 Tips to Scale Your Last-Mile Delivery Operations and learn how logistics managers can grow their delivery operations.
4. Route Optimization
Optimizing routes is an important aspect of fulfillment logistics because you want your warehouse and fulfillment centers to have items in convenient locations. You can reduce fulfillment time by arranging where products should be shipped from. The closer the warehouse or fulfillment center is to your customer, the faster they will receive their order.
Manual planning is a common cause of this issue, so using intelligent route optimization software to ensure your orders are sent out on time and from the correct location is far preferable.
5. New Technology
The days of manual fulfillment logistics planning are long gone. A variety of machine learning and AI-powered software is now available to help you further optimize your business. Using outdated technology may result in inventory mismanagement, inefficient route planning, and even data storage issues.
You can improve the speed and efficiency of your orders shipping out by utilizing cutting-edge technology. An AI-based route optimization software can assist you in planning the most efficient routes for effective fleet management and on-time delivery.
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