talk to us today! UK: +44 (0) 1270 500 777
Ireland: +353 (0) 1 913 1029

Contact Us

menu

Huge distribution warehouse with high shelves and loaders. Bottom view.

Your Warehouse in 2018

09/3/18

If you’re glad that the busiest time of your year is over, then perhaps you’ve finally got a minute to yourself, and now you’re thinking about your warehouse in 2018.

You might be extremely thankful for your WMS, and how much of a difference it made to your busiest period of the year.

However, now isn’t the time to rest on your laurels.

Here’s what we suggest you think about.

Make things easier

Now would be a good time to make things easier for you as you start filling your warehouse in 2018.

Here’s what we suggest you start with.

Take stock

If now is your quiet time, then you’ll want to take stock (figuratively and literally speaking), and see what you’ve got and what you need.

Perhaps you know that you need things like:

  • Faster printers
  • More scanners
  • New fork lift trucks

What worked well?

You’ll want to have a ‘retrospective’ and see what worked well, and why last year.

Perhaps:

  • Everybody went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that each order was dispatched on time
  • Investing in your WMS software meant that you didn’t have to work as hard as last year to send out more orders last year

What didn’t work well?

You’ll want to have a ‘post-mortem’ to see what didn’t work so well, and why.

Perhaps:

  • Technology issues meant that different stock levels were reported by different systems
  • Marketing advertised bundles that were hard to pack or expensive to dispatch
  • Sales promoted items you couldn’t find in the warehouse

What other problems did you have?

You’ll want to think about any other problems you had.

Perhaps there were issues with:

  • Staffing levels
  • Internal, external and customer communication
  • Couriers

What are you going to do about it?

You’ll want to decide what you’re going to do about the problems you faced last year and what you’re going to do differently in your warehouse in 2018.

Perhaps this year, you’ll:

  • Use a different courier
  • Improve communication between departments, courier and customers
  • Reduce the number of customer service enquiries

Avoiding problems at busy times

You don’t want to discover problems at your busy times, so being prepared is highly recommended.

Perhaps you’re already looking at:

  • Moving to new premises
  • Drawing up a shortlist of WMS software suppliers
  • Speaking with different couriers

Here’s what else you might want to think about.

Space for additional stock?

Is your warehouse well laid out, and optimised so that everything is in the right place, you might be able to hold more stock this busy time, and so could sell more.

Better integration?

Maybe you identified that you could benefit from better integration with ecommerce platforms, couriers or other systems.

This will help make your warehouse and staff even more efficient and effective which is essential at busy times.

Growing your business

We know that you’re keen on growing your business, and will be looking at ways to:

  • Attract new customers
  • Encourage existing customers to buy more often
  • Increase average order value

Here’s what we think you need to think about.

What would make your life easier?

Have you thought about what would make your life easier?

Perhaps it’s something quick and simple, or maybe it’s something bigger that will take significant resources to implement but will make a big difference.

What would be better for your customers?

Have you thought about what would make your customers’ lives easier?

Maybe they want a clearer returns process on your website, or better communication you’re your courier, or just for you to offer more delivery options.

New WMS?

Maybe you had a really difficult time in your warehouse last year, and want to make this year much easier, by investing in WMS software.

Your new WMS software could:

  • Integrate with your ecommerce platforms such as Magento, Amazon and eBay
  • Choose the right courier automatically based on your rules for destination, weight, or size
  • Improve picking accuracy and organise your warehouse in 2018 to be even more efficient and effective

Conclusion

If you’re fed up of using spreadsheets, or not knowing what you’ve got or where it is, or deciding which courier you should use, then we can help you.

Why not Contact Us on 01270 500777 today, and tell us what you need to have a successful 2018?