The holidays make for a busy time for all retailers, but they also affect logistics and warehousing. (Photo courtesy of Flickr user William Murphy)

The holidays make for a busy time for all retailers, but they also affect logistics and warehousing.
(Photo courtesy of Flickr user William Murphy)

The holiday season has both positive effects and, well, let’s call them challenges for the warehousing and logistics industries.

Warehousing

E-commerce continues to drive the growth in warehousing, which means rapid job creation. Even heavily automated warehouses require humans to oversee the automation. The problem is finding qualified workers. Staffing agencies across the country report that they struggle to find staff to work warehouses to manage holiday inventory.

We expect this problem to continue as the percent of online sales increases annually, especially during the holiday season. Warehouses are often clustered together geographically, which creates increased competition in local job markets. Company owners are then forced to raise pay to stay competitive.

As warehouses grow in size and number, that means an increased need to manage that space. Disorganized and otherwise poorly managed warehouses cost everyone money from the warehouse operator to the customer at the end of the supply chain.

Supply chain management

The holidays also create added urgency to having a competent supply chain. In the highly competitive retail world—including both e-commerce and physical store— having a reliable supply chain and inventory management is vital to differentiating one’s self from the competition.

What’s perhaps  most important during the holiday season is a well-established, well-organized return policy. Will customers be allowed to return items they purchased online to the bricks and mortar stores? Will the stores be staffed well enough to handle that and will they have adequate storage space? How will the return items be returned to regional distribution centers?

Receiving a flood of products after Christmas means merchants are going to have to exercise flexibility. We see every year how a reliable 3PL provider such as On Time Logistics can be the deciding factor in how well merchants of all sizes can make a profit (or at least minimize loss) over returned items.

Why does the 3PL provider make a difference? We have the assets and personnel required to expedite shipments of returned items and deliver them to places that facilitate the items being resold.