Manufacturing in China: 10 Tips to Peak Season Preparation (Part 3)
Even the most fruitful production and distribution chains can sometimes find themselves running out of capacity due to a shortage of trucks or freight, let alone when they are dealing with the large demand during peak shipping seasons.
Online stores and brick-and-mortar brands must keep up with the demand of orders coming in, and make sure that each package is delivered smoothly. During this surge, you must make a detailed strategy for your distribution.
To help to make it through without too many hiccups, in the last part of the peak season preparation, we will provide more tips about logistics to help you navigate the tough season. Let’s dive in.
Click here for the previous parts of the peak season preparation tips:
7. Review Packaging
As eCommerce made it possible for anyone to buy anything with a quick click, shopping experiences are becoming more important than ever before. It often involves getting all kinds of items in the same store and items will be delivered to a customer’s house with a beautiful package safe and sound.
When it comes to packaging, everyone loves getting a beautiful package waiting at their doorsteps. This sense of excitement is one of the best parts of the customer experience. To avoid any potential damage, it is important for your packaging not to be damaged in any way. For example, if you are shipping something fragile then it must be packed and shipped inside an enclosed six-sided box to prevent exposure during transit.
Also, you need to take your package design into account. Now, young generations tend to share their worthy unboxing moments on their social platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and TikTok, which has a dramatic effect on potential buyers who research reviews prior to making a purchase. In fact, product unboxing videos have become an integral part of the online buying experience. Admittedly, the product packaging gives the first impression to a new customer. We all know that people don’t always buy something because it’s cheap – they buy it because they feel connected with the brand.
In addition, try to make your package easy to open. No one wants to tear the package with a long-awaited item in heavy plastic that’s almost impossible to open. If people have the frustration of opening a package, they probably won’t turn to shop again.
8. Manage Shipping
You make sure to do everything right before the peak season arrives. You approve the manufacturing process, follow up on inspections and review website design and product copywriting time after time; all in an effort to leave your customers satisfied. Now – you are just one step away from shipping out this merchandise.
However, during the festive period, the demand for freight capacity is at a high during peak season. Global supply chain efficiencies can get disrupted as all the online direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands are struggling to deliver their products on time as late deliveries can negatively impact the customer’s perception of the brand, leading to lost sales in the future.
Therefore, one way to manage your shipping properly is by collaborating with multiple logistics companies to increase visibility and take advantage of all available shipping capacity will increase profitability and ensure prompt delivery of your products.
Besides, you need to think outside the box. For example, airfreight can be effective by providing rapid service, while LCL (“Less-than-Container-Load”) shipments can be your alternative that is cheaper and just a bit slower. The point is that now is the perfect time to explore more shipping options so that you can get your package delivered faster without feeling like you need to break the bank while doing so.
9. Secure Sufficient Capital
Regardless of your company’s size or industry sector, working capital is an important metric to achieve success during the holiday season. This is because you may need more funds readily available to increase inventory, hire some part-time staff, set up holiday displays, and invest in advertising.
Consider whether you have the positive working capital needed to ensure that your business operations are running smoothly. Because there will likely be a spike in extra expense during the peak season. For instance, an increase in shipping rates for couriers coming from the production facility to your warehouse and then being sent to customers’ doorsteps. Make sure you take this into account when calculating how much you will pay for deliveries with your distributors.
Human capital is an important aspect of planning for peak season. With new rules and regulations surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have had to reduce the number of staff present on the shop floor to comply with new physical distancing rules. However, as peak season approaches, your warehouse needs to find a way to increase productivity while keeping your workers safe. This can mean adding more shifts on weekends or evenings to increase capacity.
Keep in mind to recruit and train enough staff to handle logistics and other work. If you don’t do this, then orders might not get fulfilled on time or customers will be left waiting. Also, try to have a standard process that everyone on your team can follow correctly. Make sure that all packages will be verified, all staff that receives stock does it the same way, and that all boxes are verified, received, and unpacked together, accurately counted, and checked for accuracy.
10. Stay Organized
A great way to excel in the peak season is to be well-prepared for anything from manufacturing to distribution to shipping. The more prepared you are for the upcoming peak season beforehand, the better you can stay efficient and proactive and avoid any issues that may arise.
Shield Works Precision Manufacturing is a company that has experience and knowledge in navigating the struggles of the peak shipping season. We provide visibility into your supply chain and will help you through the process without risks. We can help you during the craziness that comes with busy production and shipping! Contact us today if you want to know how our one-stop-shop solution is for success even during the most challenging peak season.