Why now is the time to consider your fulfilment options Peak has all but begun, although that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sense check your fulfilment options or consider adding additional capabilities to your well-prepared plans. The best thing about omnichannel retailing is the ability to easily test new functionality or channels, even during the busiest periods. Before Peak really gets going, in your final stages of preparation ask yourself the following questions: y Do I have enough carriers in place? y What are those carriers communicating about Peak? y What are our redundancy plans? y Have we checked our order fulfilment and order processing flows? y Are products where they should be? y Are stores equipped to enable our omnichannel ambitions? Last year’s photos of stacks and stacks of parcels at delivery hubs haven’t faded from memory just yet so even if this year’s Peak has started strong, there’s plenty of grumblings in the media about widespread supply chain disruption to stay conscious of. As Christmas approaches, the effects of this squeeze will likely become more apparent and it’s important your shipping methods, inventory management and returns experience can navigate through any disruption.
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All these crucial components dictate customer experience and when one fails, others often grind to a halt. Successful omnichannel retailing is all about seamless shopping – the ability for customers to flit between online, mobile, stores and delivery options to have a smooth buying experience – so make sure your fulfilment is well and truly up to scratch.
Realistically, there’s no one perfect Peak plan and things will always get bumpy – that’s just the nature of the season - but the worst option is to do nothing. No matter how experienced you are with Peak, check, check and check again – before, during and after the shopping period.
