Almost every company spends the majority of the year preparing for peak season. Whether it occurs during Back-to-School season, holidays, or around a new product launch, peak season preparation is essential to ensuring that customers are happy. Besides serving as an opportunity for long-term growth, peak season also presents challenges; with increasing operations and demand, it can be easy to fall behind. 

With rising costs, higher tariffs, and financial uncertainties, the nature of peak season is changing. To get ahead, consumers are practicing early holiday shopping sprees in the summer. While this isn’t a new concept, with factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation, early holiday shopping has boomed—and with it, a large margin for error.

With major retailers offering extended sales and discounts, it’s sure to affect how supply chains operate, which is why preparing early for peak season can aid in spotting any faults before they can do any significant damage to shipping and warehouse operations. 

Are You Ready For Peak Season?

To evaluate which areas your company can improve upon in time for peak season, we’ve compiled the top questions you should be asking to best prepare for peak season across five areas of the supply chain. Communicating with your team about where to prioritize your efforts can lead to a smooth transition into one of the busiest times of the year. 

Here are the questions to ask to ensure that your business is primed for peak season:

Increased Demand: High Volumes of Incoming & Outgoing Shipments

• How can we scale our fulfillment infrastructure to accommodate the increased shipment volume effectively?
• What strategies can we employ to streamline order fulfillment during periods of heightened demand? 
• What measures can be taken to ensure fulfillment quality and shipment accuracy are maintained despite the surge in shipments?
• How do we optimize warehouse space to handle larger quantities of incoming inventory without sacrificing operational efficiency?
• What technology solutions can assist in automating processes to cope with the increased demand without overwhelming the workforce?

Time Sensitivity: Shorter Order Processing Times & Delivery Deadlines

• What changes can be made to our order processing workflows to expedite them without compromising order accuracy?
• How can we enhance collaboration between departments to reduce the time between order placement and shipment?
• What are the key factors in selecting the most time-efficient shipping methods for delivering orders promptly?
• How can technology such real-time tracking and predictive analytics help us meet tighter delivery deadlines?
• What contingency plans should be in place to address unforeseen delays and still meet time-sensitive delivery commitments?

Workforce Management: Recruiting & Training Temporary Staff

• What criteria should we use for selecting and onboarding temporary staff to ensure they align with our organizational needs?
• How can we effectively train temporary employees while minimizing disruptions to regular operations?
• What strategies can we employ to motivate and engage temporary staff and maintain a cohesive and well-integrated workforce?
• How do we strike a balance between utilizing temporary staff and maintaining a cohesive and well-integrated workforce? 
• What best practices should be followed to smoothly transition temporary employees in and out of the organization without negative impacts?
• Will we and how do we best ensure that workers get access to the systems but that we don’t have to pay for additional licenses temporarily?

Inventory Management: Ensuring Accurate Stock Levels & Preventing Stockouts

• What technology solutions can assist in real-time tracking and monitoring of inventory to prevent stockouts?
• How can we optimize our reorder points and replenishment processes to align with varying demand levels? 
• What strategies can be employed to identify and prevent slow-moving inventory from tying up valuable resources? 
• How do we develop effective communication channels between sales, procurement, and inventory management to maintain accuracy?
• What steps can be taken to minimize excess inventory while still meeting customer demand and preventing shortages?

Process Bottlenecks: Identifying & Resolving Choke Points In Supply Chain

• How can we systemically analyze our supply chain to identify potential bottlenecks and areas of inefficiency?
• What metrics and KPIs should we monitor to pinpoint where bottlenecks are occurring in the supply chain quickly?
• What strategies can we use to reconfigure processes and resources to alleviate identified bottlenecks?
• How can cross-functional collaboration help in addressing and resolving supply chain choke points more effectively?

Where ShipHawk Comes In 

In order to scale your business operations during peak season, ShipHawk’s Warehouse Management System (WMS) and Transportation Management System (TMS) can ensure that they’re done with ease and efficiency. 

Our WMS has top tier functionality when it comes to optimized scaling for omnichannel businesses. Agile and highly-configurable, the WMS can be deployed as an easy-to-use solution that’s specifically designed to address fast-paced needs in an ever-scaling technological world. Some abilities that WMS can allow businesses to execute include:

• Employ license plate best practices for uncompromising inventory traceability
• Improve inventory accuracy with advanced cycle counting
• Assure order accuracy with dynamic scan-pack verification
• Guarantee compliance with EDI labeling and cartonization
• Comply with customer-branded documentation and packing requirements
• Reduce costs while increasing throughput

With ShipHawk’s WMS, you can eliminate errors due to inventory inaccuracy and mis-shipments, which also impacts customer satisfaction. By enabling actionable visibility of priority commitments in the warehouse, you can comply with customers' essential requirements, such as compliance labeling, documentation, packaging, and billing. With WMS, your customers can expect accuracy and on-time deliveries without any hiccups. 

Additionally, our TMS offers automated streamlining with the addition of parcel, less-than-truckload (LTL), and full-truckload (FTL) functionality. Operating from one platform, ShipHawk’s TMS helps you find the best shipping carriers and rates while saving companies time and money. 

ShipHawk gives you control to customize your business rules and eliminate manual steps in the warehouse. Utilizing proprietary packing and shipping algorithms, this automated order fulfillment delivers an enhanced shipping experience. ShipHawk’s Smart Packing, or cartonization, aids in making quick decisions so the process runs efficiently; it selects the right box or pallet for every package, calculates final packed weights and dimensions, and accurately determines packing and shipping rates. 

Alongside ShipHawk’s WMS and TMS, you can also incorporate ShipHawk Audit, a tool that adjusts freight and parcel invoices for accuracy to uncover cost recovery. When combined with the ShipHawk Dimensioner—a device that streamlines how you capture weights and dimensions of your products—you can optimize your shipping and warehouse operations in no time. 

Get Ahead of the Game 

By preparing for the ever-capricious peak season, you can be ahead of any unexpected obstacles by communicating with your team about the areas you can improve upon. With ShipHawk’s warehouse and shipping tools, you’ll have all the essentials you need to face peak season. If you’re interested in learning more, feel free to connect with us today!