Peak Season: How to prepare your logistics for the peak season

With adequate advance planning, peak season management is simple. The most important planning areas, whether you are a B2C or B2B company, are inventory, logistics, and customer service.

Think about using past years’ performance around this time to forecast demand to make sure you have enough inventory for the busiest trading season. Forecasting can be more accurate by looking at seasonal patterns and competitor volumes. Planning must take into account logistics because many parties in the supply chain will start to experience limited availability due to the heightened demand during peak trading season. To guarantee space on shipping and airline carriers, schedule your orders well in advance. When ordering last-minute shipments, allow for an extended timeline. Having precise expectations for timelines can prevent a lot of headaches and stress. Your local post system might also be significantly slowed down.

At the end of the day, you want to keep up the quality of your service while enhancing your capacity to meet rising demand. In order to free up time to focus on the company and its clients during this period, it may be advantageous to investigate 3PL fulfillment for peak season trading. Having automated systems in place will help save many customer service hours. For example, having clear guidelines for shipping times for customers during the busiest shopping season or holiday cut off dates for Christmas presents. ensuring that your staff is knowledgeable about all of your unusual peak trading season policies, such as an extended return policy, so they can address any inquiries from customers.

TIPS FOR QUICK FREIGHT MANAGEMENT

Despite the fact that every industry is unique, in our 30+ years as freight forwarders, we have seen it all. Here are some advice for you business owners to help you get ready for a successful peak season.

• Expectations are crucial. Ask your logistics service provider or freight forwarder about their peak season trading policies. In this way, you will get prepared to handle any abnormalities that deviate from this expectation by knowing who or where to contact.

• Take nothing for granted. Every year, each business has a different peak season. Be aware of potential problems that might arise in your company, and prepare a plan to address them should they do so during a busy time.

• Time and space. During the busiest trading period, shipping lines and airlines areusually  constrained in their capacity. Booking your containers and ULDs well in advance—often weeks or months—of the busiest holiday season is essential if you want to guarantee that your cargo will arrive on time. During this time, allow extra time for delivery of your shipments as there may be delays in transit.

• Insurance cannot get negotiated. If something were to go wrong during transit, you wouldn’t want to miss out on potential sales or inventory losses. When booking your cargo during the busy season, insurance is crucial.

Your next busy season will go more smoothly if you work to optimize your network, reduce loading times, continue your education, and stay ahead of communication problems. Your supply chain is important, and bad partnerships shouldn’t force you to give up on your objectives. The best transportation companies will be aware of your needs during these busy times and will cooperate with you to meet them.

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