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Logiwa is Ready for Ecommerce Peak Season… Is Your Warehouse?

Publish Date: August 1, 2023

It’s official: peak season has officially begun for retailers, wholesalers, online sellers and third-party logistics (3PLs) operations. Amazon Prime Day, Walmart Plus Week and other virtual shopping holidays, which kickoff the period when orders begin to climb, have already begun to reveal the challenges in store for ecommerce supply chain operations this season.

With back to school shopping underway and Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the Christmas season still to come… warehouse operators must take stock of current logistics trends and continue to prepare for the months ahead. Luckily, Logiwa WMS was built for the challenges of high-volume DTC fulfillment and is ready for it all.

First, here are the key takeaways about ecommerce peak season:

  • Though the general market has seen dips in consumer spending compared to pandemic years, the general consensus is that consumer demand will continue to grow this year.
  • With leading virtual shopping holidays now spanning many days and order volumes continuing to rise, it’s critical that warehouses prepare for the continued effects these events will have throughout this year’s peak season.
  • The predictions of the 2023 peak season include: complex DTC activity (i.e. multi-item ordering, bundling, etc.), significant fluctuations in high-volume demand, and increased competition around fulfillment standards.
  • Logiwa’s top features for overcoming peak season challenges include: seamless integrations technology, webhooks, directed putaway functions, smart order management, automation around shipping box selection and carrier rate shopping, and analytics features like demand forecasting.
  • Logiwa helped clients like Deliverr ship 10x more orders during their first peak season using our WMS, and we continue to boost the efficiency of countless other operations with our smart automation technology.

What to Expect from Ecommerce Peak Season 2023

Online shopping events like Amazon Prime Day may only be the start of ecommerce peak season, but they have already shed light on some key peak season trends for the logistics industry.

Trends from Online Shopping Holidays

The first major insight into peak season 2023 comes from the length of these virtual shopping days. While Amazon Prime Day was once only a single day, it now spans two days (July 11-12), and it has driven other major platforms to do the same – some for multiple days. Walmart Plus Week, for instance, set its deal days from July 9-15 in order to compete with Amazon sales and take advantage of the increase in online traffic occurring during that time.

Walmart wasn’t alone. Target, Best Buy, and other major retailers followed suit with their own virtual shopping events. The intention: if Amazon cannot meet the needs of a consumer, they will look elsewhere for a competitive deal. As a result, countless warehouse operations were met with high-volume DTC traffic. Effects such as these are sure to continue throughout the holiday season.

Moreover, the profits seen by these annual shopping holidays indicate the continued rise of DTC demand. In a press release, Amazon confirmed the first day of their Prime Days alone marked the single largest sales day in the company’s history. And in just two days, Prime members purchased more than 375 million items worldwide. The start of peak season would appear to be starting with a bang, and the increased competition between major retailers is sure to impact small to mid-sized businesses as well.

The Peak Season Challenges Ahead

Though the general market has seen dips in consumer spending compared to pandemic years, the general consensus is that this year’s demand will still see growth over last year – especially for multi-channel ecommerce operations and those overseeing DTC fulfillment.

With leading virtual shopping holidays now spanning many days and order volumes on the rise, it’s critical that warehouses are well-prepared for the effects these events will have on their own fulfillment operations and consumer expectations. The predictions of the 2023 peak season are clear: increased DTC activity, significant fluctuations in high-volume demand, and a continuation of the industry’s competitive fulfillment standards (i.e. bundling, fast shipping, customization options, and more).

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