With retailers gearing up for a busy season of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas sales, retail logistics experts from Advanced Supply Chain (ASC) and ReBound Returns highlight ways they can overcome this year’s peak pressure points.
1) Sales surges
Retailers have, in recent years, successfully stretched one-day price cuts to weekend sales events, through to month-long promotions – smoothing intense spikes. However, industry data suggests that increasing volatility in consumer confidence and economic uncertainty may cause shoppers to hold out for the biggest price cuts during this year’s peak, impacting retailers’ strategies.
Stuart Greenfield, European Sales Director at ASC, explains: “With lingering consumer concerns about everything form job security to inflation, people will be seeking best value prices and are likely to hang tight. This creates a challenge around rapid and efficient replenishment of stock inventory.
“Black Friday spikes can deplete stock levels overnight, which must be remedied rapidly to satisfy a secondary spike on Cyber Monday. This year it may be even more difficult to deal with this rapid inventory turnaround because retailers have diversified and expanded supplier networks to manage the impacts of rising supply chain costs.
“An unwelcome consequence of this is retailers are receiving goods from many different suppliers around the globe, in varying packaging and labelling formats. There is little consistency, and compliance with retailers’ supplier manuals is few and far between. Inbound goods aren’t ‘retail ready’ and need reworking so they are compatible with retailers’ systems and brands, which eats up precious time during the BFCM weekend.
“Automated and digitalised systems can help solve these problems. For example, mobile kiosks in warehouses can standardise and streamline packaging and labelling formats, driving retailer compliance and avoiding order rejections and time spent fixing errors. Kiosks can be connected to transport management systems, helping optimise fleet scheduling, so inbound vehicles arrive at warehouses at the right time. This supports efficient Just In Time inventory and can avoid a risk of vehicles wasting time, queuing for loading bays during the time-critical BFCM weekend.”
2) The Returns Rush
Sales spikes often cause returns spikes with deep discounts, seasonal holiday purchases and gifting encouraging impulse purchasing and bigger baskets during peak.
“Shoppers will generally purchase more than usual to take advantage of flash promotions and have a choice of outfits for festive occasions, as well as checking out possible Christmas gift options,” says Cristina Parlogea ‑ Cirstea, Customer Success Manager at ReBound Returns. “With many purchases not kept, retailers face the challenge of processing higher volumes of returns in short timeframes.
“Goods coming back into warehouses and fulfilment centres need sorting quickly for two critical reasons. The first is to get products back into the sales cycle to meet customer demand before peak shopping days disappear. The second reason is to deliver a positive customer experience through quick refunds. ASC and ReBound data shows two-thirds of shoppers will spend again after making a return, as long as they are refunded with two – three days of sending an item back.
“Returns management systems must be based on clearly defined grading processes, so that quick and effective decisions can be made about the quality of returned items. Product inspections can be streamlined to ensure goods are quickly diverted to the most appropriate next stage, whether that’s cleaning, repair, or repackaging – meaning quality control is confidently completed and a swift customer refund can be authorised.
“Another benefit of effective grading is the valuable insights it can provide retailers, helping to further optimise returns processes to save time, manage costs, and enhance customer satisfaction.”
3) Flexing peak policies
Another aspect many retailers contend with during peak season is adapting their returns policies to make them more shopper friendly. Extra time can be allowed for customers to keep or return items using returns windows extended from a standard 28-days up to 60-days or more.
Cristina Parlogea ‑ Cirstea, Customer Success Manager at ReBound Returns, explains: “Peak is an opportunity for retailers to attract new customers and build brand loyalty that drives repeat purchasing long after the Christmas decorations come down. Therefore, it’s vital that shoppers are kept happy and returns is seen as a game changer for this.
“Returns policies will be flexed to fit with peak shopping habits. Shoppers will snap up BFCM deals to save money on gifts but know there’s a possibility they may have to change purchases in the New Year. Giving them the ability to do this allows them to confidently shop during popular sales events.
“These policy changes can bring operational challenges, such as higher return volumes during January and even into February. Warehouse can become congested, with consequent stock reintegration delays, risking issues of product availability and leftover seasonal stock.
Cristina’s advice is to be prepared. “Retailers should be speaking with returns and logistics partners, sharing information about major sales events and specific price promotions to prepare detailed forecasts. Capacity and inventory can then be better planned, with returns levels and timings anticipated to effectively handle the movement of items being sent back.
“Ultimately, the key to managing extended return windows effectively lies in proactive planning, transparent communication, and close collaboration. These are all factors that can enable retailers to balance consumer friendly returns policies with operational requirements.”
Click here to find out more about how to improve efficiencies in retail logistics, or email: https://www.advancedsupplychain.com / enquiries@advancedsupplychain.com
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