The recent heatwave, and talk of another, may have marked the height of summer for many in the UK, but for retailers it should also have been a trigger for finalising Christmas strategies. The onset of ecommerce has shaken these preparations up – the UK has embraced online commerce and has the third biggest ecommerce market globally according to AT Kearney. In fact last year we saw Black Friday sweep UK retail with a consumer spend of £810 m in a single day.

All planning should be based around this changing market. At eBay Enterprise, we identified internal communications, staffing levels, fulfilment, and contingency planning as the areas retailers need to address this summer to be ready for the Christmas rush.

Peak Planning Board

Christmas planning is a huge operation and the scale requires transparency and collaboration right across the business. Setting up a cross-departmental ‘peak planning board‘ should be every retailer‘s first move this summer, beginning in mid-July at the latest. All planning should allow for the knock-on effect to other departments; the impact of marketing campaigns on warehouse operations, for instance. Ensure that seasonal campaigns or promotions benefit from changes to warehouse staffing levels and layouts requires plenty of cross-departmental communication, which should be facilitated by a team that reports directly to the board.

Staffing

Retailers should begin planning their seasonal staffing requirements in July and, again, changing customer habits should lead to changing hiring practices. The uptake of ecommerce has changed retail and hiring and training should reflect this. Retailers need to think now about enlisting seasonal sales staff for three key areas: the shop floor, online and telephone customer service and fulfilment. Most importantly these functions need to be integrated and training for seasonal staff should reflect this. Hiring should allow sufficient time for staff to be trained in September to provide the vital customer experience when Christmas shopping starts in October.

But don‘t think that festive retail stops once the big day has passed. Our research points to return rates being at their highest in the weeks following New Year, and it is important to ensure you still have enough staff on hand to manage that demand.

Fulfilment robustness and returns

Managed correctly, retailers can fulfil 20 to 40% of online orders using a combination of click-and-collect and ship-from-store, fulfilment models that turn physical stores into a network of mini-distribution centres. Decentralising fulfilment acts as an effective insurance policy against unforeseen disruption such as that caused by inclement weather. This is particularly important at Christmas, but not always front of mind in July.

Finding the right delivery partners is just as important as deciding on a fulfilment model – it is often the retailer‘s reputation that is damaged when something goes wrong. Getting carriers to agree to strict service level arrangements or stress-testing can be difficult, but retailers can request performance data and research traditional and social media for potential pitfalls.

Peace of mind is more important than cost given the volumes of online delivery in November and December. Retailers can spread their risk by working with multiple carriers, and using tools enabling on-the-fly carrier-switching based on dynamic performance and availability data. Last year, October was when online orders begin to pick up ahead of the festive season, so we recommend having partnerships in place at least a month beforehand.

Contingency planning

For all too many retailers, Christmas conjures up scenes of crisis. Late deliveries, early discounting and website failures can do acute damage to retailers‘ reputations at this time