Storage plays a crucial role in running an e-commerce business, which is why the warehousing logistics services a business employs must follow best practices. Essentially serving as a hub for your products before they reach your customers, warehouses require careful and efficient management. When an e-commerce business has poor warehousing processes in place, it can result in delayed orders, non-moving inventories, and a waste of money.
Remember, what comes between you and your customer is your warehouse. It is the fundamental part of your supply chain that houses your products before delivery and fulfillment. And by improving your warehousing processes and practices, your business can better manage your inventory, and provide excellent customer experiences.
Best Practices for Warehousing Logistics Services
Use an optimized warehouse management system
With most processes turning digital, it’s important to also ensure that you can manage and track your warehouse operations online. Use specialized software that includes business features that not only provide you with information on the statuses of your orders, but also access to the crucial data you need to plan for the future.
An efficient warehouse management system helps you monitor the operations of your inventories that travel through you, your manufacturer, and your distribution center. That way, you can easily check where products are at any given moment, whenever you need to know. Warehouse management systems can also equip you with real-time data and analytics relevant to your inventory and stock levels which can help you plan for replenishment and avoid running out of stock. Through the full overview on your supply chain that your warehouse management system provides you, processes are streamlined and operations are carried out more efficiently.
Integrate all your e-commerce stores
At present, it’s common to have more than one e-Commerce store. To maximize online presence and sales, most brands are managing their business on 2-3 e-Commerce shopping platforms (Shopee, Lazada, Shopify, Zalora, et al.).
Centralizing your entire e-Commerce operations by integrating your e-Commerce stores will help you run your business more strategically. Having a full and comprehensive view of your multiple stores from a single source of data can help you determine which platforms are performing better, which items are selling more on different platforms, and which stores need more attention marketing-wise.
Visibility on all your e-Commerce stores is not only convenient but also essential in this day and age. By being able to see everything that’s happening in your business across all platforms in just a few taps and clicks, you will be able to identify any potential problems, address them early on, and stay competitive in the market.
Utilize demand and inventory forecasting
When it comes to maximizing your business’ profit, data remains the most important. With the right data and insights, you can predict what your customers want, when they want them, and on which e-Commerce shopping platforms they’ll most likely purchase them on.
With the advanced technology to analyze your store orders and data, you can accurately forecast demand and properly prepare your stock and inventory accordingly. Demand and inventory forecasting uses past order data and upcoming flagged events in order to optimize inventory, lower storage costs, and fulfill orders faster.
Another benefit of demand and inventory forecasting is being able to know when is the best time for your business to hold store sales, discontinue slow-selling products, and expand product ranges. Through this, your system can also analyze previous flash sales and predict demand to help you successfully prepare your production operations to handle 10.10, 11.11, 12.12, and more!
Streamline the most suitable picking system
Depending on the size of your business, the most efficient picking system will vary. For small and starting businesses which receive a few orders on a daily basis, a manual one-at-a-time picking process is feasible. But for e-Commerce businesses that are quickly growing, it is more systematic and productive to enlist more advanced tools.
Batch picking and auto-generating picking lists based on orders and items that are within proximity to each other in your e-Commerce warehouse can optimize time management, reduce picking time, and boost productivity.
Tailor your warehouse layout
Optimizing your warehouse space and organizing your areas can make a drastic impact on your supply chain. Understanding your products, inventory, and customer order patterns, you can create an ideal warehouse setup and layout tailored to your supply chain needs.
For example, an important consideration is bundling. If you have best-selling bundles that sell all year round or for extended periods of time, it might be worth considering putting them next to each other in your warehousing layout to speed up the picking process for popular orders. Take time to look at your data and see what other products are frequently bought together, what products are bought seasonally, and what products are more sensitive in storage requirements. By starting with the fundamental planning for warehouse layout designs, you can already reduce storage costs and speed up the fulfillment process before you move onto tech-centric warehouse practices!
Partner with a tech-enabled fulfillment partner
Regardless of the size of your business – whether you’re a small or medium-sized business or an established retail business – working with the latest technology will enable your business to grow bigger in a shorter amount of time.
By partnering with a tech-enabled fulfillment partner like LOCAD that offers the latest warehousing technology and solutions will not only keep you competitive, but also ensure your supply chain operations are running smoothly at all times.
Merchants who partner with LOCAD are provided with state-of-the-art technology that putsPlus, LOCAD also provides an exclusive fulfillment network that provides affordable shipping and delivery as well as the option to expand into international fulfillment centers located in other countries at any time.
Working with a forward-thinking and tech-enabled fulfillment partner helps you and your business continuously implement the best and most advanced warehousing practices designed to streamline your operations. That way, you can focus on the more important parts of your business such as sales, strategy, and marketing and stay worry-free when it comes to your warehousing and logistics!
