If you trade Business to Consumer (B2C) then 60 – 70% of your business is likely to be done in this last 4th quarter of the year, which of course started at the beginning of October. Whether you trade from a physical store or an on-line, e-Commerce platform or even both, this will apply to you.
So, like a top class athlete preparing for a big career race, you will have undoubtedly started months out from the event, thinking and anticipating every possible scenario and leaving nothing to chance.

Just like these sporting heroes, major sized businesses and experienced professionals will have begun their preparations much earlier in the year, and most certainly by August. If you are one of these well-organised machines then you will be best placed to reap the rewards that early planning can deliver
If you are just getting around to this then gears must be stepped up, or new ones found, – or at the very least you need to be considering a relatively short-term tactical approach – NOW.

If you have managed to build your business to provide your customers with a great experience when they buy from you, then you cannot afford to compromise this advantage – your customers will be expecting the same great service from you even at your busiest time of year. Remember, they will tell others and come back to you again and again.

Your route to market; processes and suppliers you have in place to meet your demand, could make or break your business however good your product is – if you can’t get it to your customers on time and every time then your brand will be remembered for entirely the wrong reasons – and this bad word will spread to others.

Below are some pointers to help you deal with your busiest time of year. These are in no particular order of priority, as only you will know your business best, and the issues within it.

Our Tips for Managing Your Peak Season:

-Conduct a review of every operating area of your business, speak to the operators as they will know the pinch points

-Consider the bottle necks and what you need to do to overcome them

-Know who your dependent partners are, what they do for you and what they can do to help you during this important time – leverage their capabilities

-If you rely on information from others then keep pestering them to deliver on your commitments which delight your customers whether internal or external

-Cross docking – if you use warehouses or distribution centres allow them to help you manage your needs. E.g. if you have a fast moving product you may want to tell them not to process through the normal warehousing procedures, which would normally have several handling stages – but sampling cross dock from goods in to dispatch. This process will be much faster and less costly – allowing you to win, win, win.

-Know the peaks within the peaks, such as “Black Friday” – what is it? Unofficially or officially the start of holiday season shopping, both on & off line trading, and “Cyber Monday” – This term was created by marketing companies to persuade people to shop online.

-This year (2014) Black Friday is 28th November

-This year (2014) Cyber Monday is 1st December

-If you are a global trader watch out for differences between countries eg: UK – Boxing day sales on 26th December, Germany/Belgium & Holland – in certain parts of these countries children receive their gifts on the 6th December, not the 25th, on Nikolaustag (St. Nicholas Day). Spain – The 3 kings and not Santa bring the gifts on the 6th January. These differences will create different peaks in demand.

If you’ve got all this in place then you can still do more. It is important to consider a plan B for every critical step in your supply line, in delivering to your customer.

Our TOP 3 Tips to Keep your Supply Chain in Shape:

1. Review all your operational areas, and know the bottlenecks
2. Know all your dependencies and service provider partners
3. Convey your peak season plans with all partners and set your expectations with them, leveraging their capabilities and expertise

If you need help or are just too busy to get this in place then you can still act now. Navigator Solutions are just one phone call away and can put this all in place for you. Please contact us on +44(0)1494-858-341 or enquiries@navigatorsolutions.co.uk.