Your first thought might be to add automation if you’re seeking to reduce expenses and boost your ecommerce warehouse efficiency or operations.
However, technology is not inexpensive. What if you don’t have enough orders to cover the price?
Don’t give up. Here are a few low-tech strategies to improve ecommerce warehouse efficiency, which also include fulfillment centre expenses management without going broke.
Related Reading: Contextual Commerce – The Future in Digital-Centric Ecommerce
1. Wise Scheduling and Routing.
Road trips are enjoyable because you can freely investigate side roads and byways without worrying about mileage or time. But in the fiercely cutthroat world of internet retail, time is money.
You need to reduce the amount of time it takes to select orders if you want your ecommerce warehouse operations to be as effective as possible.
Picking routes should be as short as feasible because time spent moving around the warehouse can account for more than 50% of the time it takes to fill an order.
Several methods for doing this include:
– Top-selling SKUs should be located closest to packing stations and within easy reach, while the remaining items should be arranged in relation to how frequently customers purchase them.
– Finding similar products that frequently ship together
modifying preferred places as necessary to take into account seasonal demand and special offers
– The pack stations should be close to where the pickers finish their routes so they can quickly grab an empty cart when they drop off a filled one.
Related Reading: Ecommerce Testing? Whats, Whys and How To Optimize For Sales
2. Employ Zone or Batch Selection
A warehouse employee uses batch picking to choose the same SKU for several shipments at once. This cuts down on travel time by combining visits to specific warehouse locations.
In zone selection, employees only select items that are kept in their assigned zone. Orders must journey through several zones in order to be finished, but since associates don’t switch between zones frequently, their travel time is reduced.
These are merely two methods for lowering warehouse labor expenses through more intelligent order picking.
There are others, and you might need to use a few various strategies to reduce associate travel time.
3. Utilizing a Select Module.
If your SKU catalog’s depth and order volume allow it, pick modules can cut down on travel time by condensing items into a compact workspace.
Without having to move from one location to another, the associate can collect orders for those SKUs.
Pick modules are a specially designed arrangement of shelves and conveyors set up for quick order fulfillment.
Pick modules function best when the bulk of orders contain just a few SKUs. Consider the scenario where you have 100 products, but the bulk of your orders are for just 10.
A picker will be able to remain in one location to fill the majority of orders if pick mods are made for those 10 items.
Another employee who is moving around the warehouse with a cart can pick up any goods that an order contains and bring them to the pick module.
4. Differentiate Packaging
Brands spend a lot of money on packaging because they know people are visually oriented. Think about how you locate the items you shop for at the supermarket. Do you actually look for the product by name?
Or do you recognize it by the shape, colors and graphic design of its package? For most of us, it’s the latter.
You can make ecommerce warehouse operations more efficient using this same principle.
Let’s say you sell supplements. If all of your boxes look the same, with only a small line of type or a barcode to denote whether they contain a supplement designed for heart health versus one for cognitive support, it can take associates longer to choose the correct product.
Try differentiating one product from another with a splash of color or a visual icon to expedite the selection process if your branding and marketing rules permit it.
Related Reading: Ecommerce Analytics: Leveraging Data To Unlock Online Sales
5. Reevaluate Packing Decisions.
Shipping fine dinnerware or other delicate items makes the cost of oversized corrugated cartons padded with kraft paper or bubble wrap easily justifiable.
However, you might want to forgo the box in favor of polybags or bubble mailers for soft goods and products that arrive in their own robust containers.
Compared to crates, polybags and bubble mailers have the following benefits:
– They are more affordable to buy.
– They don’t need filler material, which is another cost-saving measure, and they transport for less money because they weigh less and don’t have to pay dimensional weight fees.
– They don’t need setup, which saves time. (which equals money)
– They can be quickly filled, sealed, and branded, speeding up the process of fulfilling orders.
Some of our clients have discovered that switching from box packaging to polybag packaging can result in six-figure savings.
Review your own SKU catalog to see where you might be able to save by bagging some of your purchases rather than boxing them.
There is obviously no “one size fits all” solution for online sellers seeking to improve ecommerce warehouse efficiency..
Every business has specific needs that must be met while taking into account factors such as order volume, average order size, client location, brand image, and other factors.
In closing
The present e-commerce trends and predictions are ideally characterized by high growth and low profit. The best way to overcome these obstacles and maintain profit margins in the supply chain is to lower the costs associated with logistical fulfillment.
To do this, the right workforce and technology should be adopted, and these areas should include inventory management, packaging and shipping, order tracking and returns, and other related operations.
Adopting an omnichannel operating system like that offered by Kilowott, which will manage the complete centre in a single entity, is an even better option.
