Christmas time can bring a lot of challenges for retailers, as shoppers begin to panic shop online, looking for the best Christmas deals. With this, businesses face a sudden surge in demand, tighter deadlines, and higher expectations with products and delivery times. Navigating these challenges can be overwhelming without the right systems and support in place and may even lead to unhappy customers and a large amount of complaints.
That’s where 3PL (third-party logistics) providers come in. 3PL providers are experts in logistics and can play a crucial role in helping eCommerce businesses meet the huge demands of the Christmas rush.
In this blogpost, we are going to explore some of the most common logistics challenges retailers face during the holiday season—and how a 3PL can solve them.
The holiday season brings an influx of orders, often at the last minute. Consumers, motivated by promotions like Black Friday and Boxing Day, flood online stores, resulting in major increases in order volume. Retailers often find it difficult to keep up with this demand, leading to potential stockouts, delayed shipments, and overwhelmed staff.
3PL can solve by: A 3PL provider has the resources to help you scale up quickly during peak seasons. With advanced inventory management systems, trained warehouse staff, and a vast network courier, 3PLs can handle the increased order volume with efficiency. This ensures that inventory levels are accurately tracked, stockouts are minimised, and orders are picked and sent on time.
Retailers need to ensure they have enough stock on hand to meet demand, especially around Christmas. However, it can be difficult to predict the exact amount of stock needed, leading to overstocking, or understocking your items. Another key challenge can be tracking inventory in real-time across multiple sales channels (as you may sell on multiple platforms).
3PL can solve by: 3PL providers offer the best inventory management systems that allow retailers to monitor stock levels across multiple channels in real-time. This ensures that businesses have accurate visibility into their inventory and can adjust orders to maintain their stock levels. You can also ask your chosen 3PL to use analytics to help with your demand planning for the season, to ensure you have an idea of which items will be fast and slow moving.
As Christmas approaches, there is pressure to deliver on time (and many customers will expect their order to come before Christmas, even when ordered at the last minute). Consumers expect fast, reliable shipping, with many opting for last-minute gifts and expecting their packages to arrive within days, if not hours (it’s a tough crowd), and if you’re failing to deliver these expectations, you may receive complaints.
3PL can solve by: Your chosen 3PL provider will have several delivery networks and courier connections, offering services like same-day or next-day shipping (at the best price), meaning you can offer the best prices and delivery options to your customers. This may be the difference between you and your competitor, so it is important you can offer this.
Reverse logistics is a huge issue among smaller retailers, and there is likely to be a huge surge in your returns during the Christmas period. Managing the returns process—especially when dealing with a large volume of packages—can be overwhelming, leading to delays, customer complaints, and excess inventory.
3PL can solve by: Reverse logistics is something a lot of 3PL’s offer to their clients as they can easily streamline the returns process and make it as easy as possible for your business to keep track of. There will be systems in place for receiving returned products, inspecting them, and restocking or disposing of them as necessary. With your 3PL’s support, you can provide a hassle-free returns experience for your customers, whilst maintaining control over your inventory and minimising lost revenue.
We have spoken about customer satisfaction quite a lot through this blogpost and it is because your customers are the backbone of your company, and it is key to keeping them as happy as possible. During the Christmas season, your customers’ expectations are at an all-time high and it is so important to try and meet these expectations. Shoppers want their orders to be picked and sent correctly, delivered quickly, and packaged well. Failure to meet these expectations can lead to lost business, bad reviews, a surge in customer service messages and a damaged brand reputation.
3PL can solve by: With advanced order tracking, fast delivery options, and high standards for packaging, your 3PL provider will ensure that your customers receive their products on time and in good condition, therefore minimising complaints. Having your 3PL provider sort your orders means there will be less mistakes and happier customers, therefore helping you grow. By outsourcing fulfilment to a 3PL, you can focus on enhancing customer service while leaving the logistics to experts who understand how to meet holiday demand.
Is your business ready for the Christmas rush? A 3PL provider might be the key to making this holiday season your most successful yet, and here at GNOC, we have years of experience in eCommerce and logistics. We understand how stressful this time of year can be, and that is exactly why we are here to help. Not only can we help you be as successful as possible with your operations this Christmas, but we allow you to focus more on other areas of your brand in order to grow.
To find out how to work with us, you can contact us today or fill out our short form letting us know your business needs or queries and one of our helpful team will be in touch.
Start your 3PL journey today, and let’s grow together.