4 Ways to Keep Shipments Moving Smoothly During Annual Leave!

Annual Leave

If you are a store owner, you understand how high annual leaves can stall your shipments. When running a business, there are endless things to consider. In addition to having a solid lineup and effective marketing, you must also consider shipments.

You must think of ways to stop your newly persuaded customers from becoming irritated with any aspect of the purchasing process. 

Here are a few ways to ensure that shipments run smoothly during periods of high annual leave.

1. Prepare Your Shipping Team

You should inform your store’s shipping staff when you anticipate an increase in shipments. This is especially common over the holiday season. The sooner you prepare your team, the better.

Depending on the size of your store, this may require preparing just one person—you—or it may entail setting up a meeting with a hundred staff members. In either case, aim to get your team ready ahead of time, so nobody gets caught off guard.

If you’ve been in business for a while, you probably know what to say and what to anticipate: an increase in shipments, more pressure to get products out the door, last-minute purchases, unique demands, and possibly even a requirement for temporary assistance.

2. Evaluate Your Shipping Methods Considering Customer Needs

Most of the time, your customers will probably accept standard ground shipping. However, there are instances where you may need to switch things up. Last-minute shopping means people may need to have their items shipped more urgently than usual.

For the holiday season, it’s very likely that you’ll need to add one or more temporary shipping options. This could mean express shipment, two-day shipping, and guaranteed delivery windows.

Here are a few tips to help you find out if your customers could use new shipping options.

  • Check the feedback on your social media channels and email
  • Consider the nature of your goods
  • Reach out to your customers and ask

3. Proactively Encourage Employees to Book Leave — So They Don’t All Leave It Till the Last Minute

You want to avoid finding yourself in a situation where many of your employees go on leave at the same time. When you are in low season, encourage your employees to book leave. That way, you will have them around when experiencing lots of orders.

Since keeping track of leaves can be difficult, choose an annual leave software to help you. If you still rely on emails, shared calendars, and spreadsheets, you are likely to miss something. Keeping tabs on everything can be frustrating. It can waste a lot of your time and energy.

4. Double Check the Shipping Material

When your customers receive their orders, they don’t anticipate any issues. No one wants to open their box only to find broken or damaged items. Double check your shipping material, especially if you have lots of shipments. You don’t want to deal with returns and unhappy clients because of poor-quality shipping material.

Your shipping boxes, materials, and product packaging may have held up just fine for most of the year. However, it would be best if you switched things up during the holiday season.

 Your own workers will be pressed for time, and carriers might move bigger volumes. They might not be as attentive as they should. Without proper shipping material, the risk of damaging your products is high.

In conclusion, you must find a way to promote smooth shipments even when you have lots of employees on annual leave. During the holiday season, you will probably have many of your employees booking leave. However, it is also the time when you have lots of orders. If you aren’t careful, you may end up with unhappy customers and overworked employees.

One of the best ways to prevent this issue is by encouraging them to avoid booking leave at the last minute. Double-check your shipping material, prepare the shipping team, and evaluate your methods to suit customer needs. 

Annual Leave article and permission to publish here provided by Cristina Par. Originally written for Supply Chain Game Changer and published on November 7, 2022.

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