When you own a company that sells products to customers, it is essential to prepare for busy seasons or holidays. You might have a huge increase in orders, but if you haven’t used these tips, then you aren’t ready to fulfill orders to keep up with demand and operate at your maximum
efficiency. This can greatly reduce your profits. Utilize these three strategies to ensure that you are ready to help your customers:
Tip 1: Hire More Employees
It is vital to hire more employees during your busiest seasons such as the Christmas holidays. When you hire employees for seasonal work, you can contact a temporary agency, or you can hire individuals who want to work for only a few months of the year. If you hire anyone who learns quickly, then remember that individual for future seasonal work or for a full-time job. Make sure to follow the local employment guidelines for hiring seasonal workers to avoid needing to pay unemployment or other benefits.
Tip 2: Rent Storage Space
If you need to store products for your company on a seasonal basis, then you must have temporary storage space. Look for nearby storage facilities where you can rent space for only a few weeks. If you have products that are sensitive to temperature changes, then choose a climate-controlled storage system. You can also look for companies that will store your products while also responding to your requests to pack and ship the items to particular customers’ addresses. With this choice, you may not need to hire additional employees for your business.
Tip 3: Have a Written Seasonal Business Plan
To fulfill your seasonal orders efficiently, you must have a written business plan. Create special business plans for busy seasons so that you can plan ahead rather than ordering products too late or running out of the items that your customers want to order.
Tip 4: Hire a Fulfillment Center
If you are starting to wonder if it makes more sense to outsource your increase in orders to a fulfillment center you might be right! Contact Specialty Fulfillment service today (now offering Amazon Fulfillment, too!) and learn how we can streamline your order fulfillment, create a program to manage your inventory, make sure your customers stay satisfied, and save you money!
