Getting Ready For The Holiday Rush Series – Discovering Bottlenecks When Processing High Order Volumes

As we near the holidays, you’re most likely experiencing a higher volume in sales orders coming in. While this is definitely a positive thing, there could be some factors that will start to hold you back. Without the proper inventory management techniques, how do you equip yourself with the tools necessary for a profitable holiday season? What are some processes that are essential to successfully tackling bottlenecks when processing high order volumes?

First off, being able to quickly locate inventory is crucial at all times, but more specifically when you have to fulfill a higher number of orders than usual. When an order comes in, you want to be able to get the product off the shelf and follow up with the customer as quickly as possible. Often, you could see a delay in order fulfillment due to the inability to either locate the requested product in your inventory or the fact that you do not have enough knowledge about whether or not the product actually exists in your inventory at all. A strong inventory management system will easily allow you to locate product in your inventory immediately, alleviating any time between when the actual order is placed and when the shipping process begins.

One factor that goes hand-in-hand with locating inventory is your pick/pack capabilities. Locating inventory in your warehouse is one thing, but without the proper tools and staff to efficiently and effectively pick and pack the product when an order comes in, you will always be a few steps behind. The bottom line is to ship out requested product as quickly as possible to meet customer demand.

The next step in the order process that becomes increasingly important during a high-volume period like the holiday rush is shipping. Chances are you are using a shipping system that may be able to report back when the shipment leaves the warehouse, but that’s it. Without an integrated shipping system, how do you oversee the entire process of when an order comes in to when it gets delivered to the customer? An integrated shipping system not only effectively manages the order to fulfillment process, but can also help you avoid bottlenecks during a high order volume period and set you up for future return on investment.

Luckily, an integrated shipping system allows for automatic shipment setup. This means that the system has the built-in knowledge to be able to set up rules that enable the creation of automatic shipments. You’re probably wondering what this means exactly. Let’s say, for example, that every year before Christmas you order “x” amount of a certain product. With automatic shipment capabilities, the system automatically creates an order, which then gets picked & packed, and shipped out, all independent of an actual physical order.

Contact Third Wave Business Systems today to discuss the next steps you should take to avoid bottlenecks and successfully process high order volumes during the holiday rush!