Black Friday and how a 3PL provider can transform your operations

Black Friday takes place on Friday 24^th November in 2023 and is closely followed by Cyber Monday on Monday 27^th  November.

Originating in the USA, Black Friday heralded the start of the Christmas shopping season after Thanksgiving had taken place, whilst Cyber Monday was created by retailers to encourage people to shop online.

Both have been adopted into UK retailers marketing plans, and last year generated a staggering 12.3bn, up 8.3% from 2021.

Now, with people knowing that retailers will be clamoring for sales with amazing discounts and deals, many people wait until this period to make big purchases fueling demand and undoubtedly adding pressure on the system of getting the goods to the shops and to the customers.

Behind all these sales and complex movement of goods to facilitate demand there has to be a slick warehousing, transport and logistics operation to fulfil consumer demand.

Typically, businesses from all sectors turn to additional providers to cope with these peaks in demand as they can tailor specific arrangements to support these short terms demands leaving their own transport and warehousing department or incumbent provider to manage day to day operations.

So, what should retailers be considering to ensure Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales run as smooth as possible.

Plan, plan, plan

It always pays to have a plan, which is why now is the time to open the lines of communication with independent 3PL providers, such as Carlton Forest 3PL, to enable that extra support to be available.

Choosing a 3PL provider that has lots of experience in creating and delivering agile, flexible solutions means that the services are tailored to customers exact requirements.

This allows customers to utilise a range of services from portside such as container collection, de-stuffing and re-packing or palletising, to haulage services, storage, and ecommerce where goods can be delivered direct to the purchaser.

With such a wide range of complex services that can all be integrated to create an end-to-end solution, it’s important to get the right team on board.

A team that places the customer first and adapts to their needs is the one that will ultimately deliver the greatest success.

Benefits of choosing a 3PL provider

Upscaling operations is not an easy thing to do especially for a temporary period.

Choosing a 3PL provider to give additional support during peak periods means that businesses benefit in a number of ways.

• There is no need to acquire additional temporary warehouse space which can be costly and hard to come by, especially on short let terms.
• Finding staff and training them so that are competent can be expensive and not without its challenges. Choosing a 3PL provider means that their staff are skilled in delivering complex contracts.
• Gives customers complete peace of mind knowing that experts in dealing with all things warehousing and logistics are focused on delivering the contract leaving existing staff to carry on with the day job.

Choosing a provider that can plan and deliver a tailored fulfilment strategy in line with business objectives that supports both the business, and the customer is imperative to enable this annual peak in demand to operate seamlessly.

Whilst the spike in demand can be colossal, 3PL partners are adept at scaling systems and services accordingly which should give some reassurance to businesses who are looking for ways to manage in the best and most efficient way.

Stephen Ashby, Business Development Director, Carlton Forest 3PL commented; “I’ve been lucky enough to work on both sides of the Black Friday frenzy so understand perfectly what retailers need from their 3PL provider and how 3PL providers can deliver on demand and meet expectations.

“The team at Carlton Forest 3PL is proficient and capable of delivering all facets of warehousing, transport, and logistics from complex arrangements in ecommerce situations to simply storing and delivering product to retail outlets.

“All prospective customers need to know is that we are here to support them with the increase in demand leading up to, during, and after the Black Friday, Cyber Monday and festive season to ensure maximum retail sales are achieved, brand reputations protected, and consumers are happy.”

To chat about working with the team simply contact Stephen Ashby – stephen.ashby@carltonforestgroup.com