Whether you’re accepting orders in-store, at markets, pop-ups, or festivals, customers now expect impeccable customer service and lightning-fast delivery. With so many retailers offering free and same-day delivery, the pressure to get orders out quickly and efficiently is fierce.

When sales are swift and orders are stacking up, try some of these methods to master the art of fulfillment.

 

Hire Extra Staff 

The first question to ask leading up to any busy period is: Are we properly staffed to maintain good customer service? Once you’ve worked out where (and if) you need extra help, you’ll want to make sure new recruits can handle the pressure.

On top of making sure new people are properly trained, give priority to friends of current staff who shop in the store and understand their philosophy.

 

Communicate

Hopefully, you’re already doing this day-to-day, but if there’s one thing that can potentially make or break your busy season, it’s communication.

With staff, that means having daily team meetings about what’s needed today and about key promotions in store and online. Also, take time throughout the day to celebrate good ideas and successes. It keeps employees focused and engaged.

It’s also a good idea to keep your suppliers and vendors in the loop. Let them know when you anticipate gaps in product stock or a slower response time. They’re important cogs in your work wheel, so keeping them informed is key to your own success.

And let’s not forget about the most important people in this whole process: your customers. Reaching out to your buyers directly, especially when there are delays, can make a huge difference between a repeat customer and one who’s disgruntled.

 

Anticipate Problems 

It’s important to organize your team and deal with exceptions. Addressing productivity issues and developing solutions before they come up will make your busy time run a lot smoother.

Take a hard look at the customer journey and make sure you’re handling them well. Do you dedicate a specific team to returns? Do you have the right staff and resources for in-store returns? Many businesses forget about the impact this has on frontline.

Fraud is one major problem that costs both time and money. Adding fraud protection tools to your site can be especially helpful for new staff who don’t always know what to look out for.

 

Review Your Inventory

Before a collection launch or promotion, it’s important to do regular audits of your inventory to make sure you have products on hand.

Human error happens,and in order to avoid them its important to download an app that handles all the inventory. Roll app is free and available on both Google Playstore and Apple Appstore. This app will help your business manage and review inventory for you without any cost. Review all our products to make sure all pieces are accounted for and there’s no damage. 

 

Learn From Your Mistakes

At the end of every launch, promotion, or holiday rush, take some time with your team to look back and conduct a post-mortem. What worked well and what didn’t? How can you apply this knowledge to next year’s playbook?

When you’re starting out, you tend to do everything task-by-task on a daily basis so you can cross things off your list. Stepping back and looking at the bigger goals and how you will achieve them week-by-week can really be a turning point for a new business.

Focus on areas that will really move the needle forward for your particular business, because retail isn’t one size fits all. Staying motivated during busy seasons can be difficult, but with a little pre-planning and organization, retailers can stay on top of their to-do list and fulfill all those orders quickly and efficiently.