Is your warehouse ready?
The rush of the upcoming holiday season has the potential to seriously disrupt the supply chain, and not just for retailers. There are many factors to consider—from consumer demands to channel alignment to supply chain execution and beyond.
According to Deloitte’s 2018 Holiday Survey of Consumers, the holiday shopping season is expected to exceed $1.1 trillion in retail sales, a 5.0 – 5.6% increase from 2017. These sales are expected to account for more than one-fourth of annual retail sales in the U.S. 1
The predicted record-breaking holiday sales place tremendous pressure on distributors and manufacturers, who are responsible for producing and delivering these goods. The burden is particularly troublesome during the holidays when the company‘s distribution center is handling up to five times their typical workload.
In the center of a trade war, retailers are preparing and hoping for a successful season. Given the volume and rate of sales during this season, supply chain decisions will impact many retailers. As consumers start responding to numerous holiday promotions, retailers need to guarantee the highest on-shelf availability (OSA) and online availability (OLA) at an ideal price to earning a piece of the $1.1 trillion holiday retail sales predicted by Deloitte.
An essential component of a well-prepared supply chain is your contingency plan. Severe weather, port closures, and human or system errors are just some of the issues that you may experience when you’re trying to move greater quantities of product, faster. Companies need to prepare their operations for disruptions. So, mastering your contingency plan ahead of time will avoid a chaotic situation.
Retail Predictions
Thanksgiving week marks the official start of the holiday shopping season. And with Thanksgiving falling a full week ahead of the traditional last week of the month, shoppers will have five weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. With more selling days, retailers will need to get creative to keep their energy amplified. Online and in-store sales and promotions are predicted to be heftier, start earlier, and carry into 2019.
While most of the deal-hunters are shopping online, brick and mortar stores were open on Thanksgiving and will open on Christmas
