Ensuring Seamless Order Fulfilment During Holidays
Automated guided vehicles (AVGs) now handle complex logistics tasks, dramatically reducing costs and accelerating fulfilment processes.
The 2024 holiday shopping season has transformed traditional retail strategies, with ecommerce stores launching promotions as early as the first week of November. This way, retailers adapt to the market’s changing consumer behaviours and address current market dynamics, including the effects of the post-COVID ecommerce bubble and ongoing economic downturns.
For instance, Amazon, Walmart, and BestBuy have already structured their sales strategy across multiple events throughout November, from early Black Friday promotions to Cyber Monday and the Christmas season.
Projections from Shopify and Salesforce paint an even more optimistic picture, with global online transaction revenues expected to reach $6 trillion by the end of 2024 and forecasted 2% year-on-year sales growth during the holiday season. However, these opportunities come with significant operational challenges that demand strategic approaches.
So, how can ecommerce stores address the challenges in order fulfilment?
Supply Management, Logistical Strains, and Evolving Client Expectations
The holiday season creates unprecedented pressure on supply chains and logistics, revealing critical vulnerabilities in current ecommerce operations. Market research highlights the high stakes of inventory management: 70% of shoppers switch retailers if their desired item is out of stock, creating a delicate balance between overstocking and understocking.
At the same time, warehouse infrastructure often needs help with increased order volume, exposing problems in outdated inventory management systems and staffing limitations. The consequences involve inefficient order processing, which leads to delays, inaccuracies, and operational expenses.
This challenge is relevant for small and medium-sized stores, with a key concern: 54% of customers are ready to choose alternative retailers if delivery dates are not met. Plus, retailers have to manage packaging material costs — which can represent up to 10% of a product’s retail price — while ensuring product integrity during transit.
Customer expectations also continue to evolve, driven by industry leaders like Amazon Prime, which offers free same-day delivery across global markets: the US, Canada, Germany, and Japan, among others. This is one of the reasons personalisation has emerged as a critical differentiator, as demonstrated by Walmart’s Retail Media platform, Walmart Connect.
The company’s innovative approach enables targeted, time-sensitive advertising across multiple touchpoints, including in-store TV walls, self-checkout screens, and digital platforms. Now, brands can effectively engage customers at different stages of their shopping journey, often leading to more sales.
Demand Forecasting, AI, And 3PL as Key Strategies of Today’s Ecommerce
Plan in advance using demand forecasting and inventory management. A multifaceted process combining historical data analysis and advanced forecasting methods. For instance, Walmart’s AI-powered inventory management system vividly illustrates this approach, leveraging historical sales data, comprehensive market research, and advanced analytics to predict seasonal product demand. Speaking specifically, the system enables dynamic adjustments to inventory levels and product placements, optimising supply chain efficiency and addressing potential delivery disruptions before issues arise.
Provide real-time tracking information via SMS or emails. While this seems crystal clear, many ecommerce stores still fail to do so. Providing this information can ease the workload of your customer support, as your customers will be able to monitor the state of their orders at every delivery stage. This, in particular, helps to manage customer expectations and reduce anxiety associated with waiting for deliveries, especially during the holiday season.
Optimise warehouse operations with automation. If your ecommerce store grew from a side hustle to a 6-figure business, it’s time to take one step further and implement robotics and automation into your warehouse ecosystem. For example, automated guided vehicles (AVGs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) now handle complex logistics tasks, including picking, packing, and sorting, dramatically reducing labour costs and accelerating fulfilment processes.
AI integration also offers several opportunities for smaller operations. Voice-controlled systems can guide workers through picking processes, while AI-powered simulation models optimise warehouse layouts by identifying the most efficient configurations for storing and retrieving goods. These tools continuously analyse space utilisation patterns, enabling dynamic adaptation based on real-time data about product demand and inventory turnover rates.
Nurturing supplier relationships at every level is key to successful ecommerce operations. Particularly crucial are carrier relationships, which involve regular shipping cost negotiations and exploring partnerships with regional carriers capable of providing faster, more cost-effective local delivery services. For instance, in the US, regional carriers like CDL Last Mile Solutions or OnTrac can handle same-day or next-day deliveries within their specific geographic areas, significantly reducing transit times and costs.
Leverage third-party logistics (3PL). A vivid example of this practice is Amazon FBA, which handles the fulfilment aspect of your business. To ensure flawless fulfilment, the 3PL supplier should integrate seamlessly with your existing systems. Various 3PL suppliers have different pricing models, so it’s critical to understand the costs and how they align with your company’s objectives. Setting performance metrics and service agreements can help you manage your connection with the 3PL supplier and ensure they match your standards and expectations.
The Tech Behind Modern Ecommerce
Technology is undoubtedly the driving force behind the success of every ecommerce business, from SMEs to large enterprises. Here are three key technologies that will shape the landscape in 2025.
In-Demand Products without Upfront Purchasing, Automated Logistics, and a Cloud-Based IT Infrastructure
Many ecommerce platforms now use dropshipping, a retail fulfilment method in which a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock — that’s exactly what we do at 4Partners. When a seller completes a sale, the dropshipping service automatically processes the order and ships the product directly to the buyer.
In essence, the seller doesn’t need to handle anything manually — the service tracks paid items, purchases them from the distributor, and manages customer delivery independently. This allows retailers to sell products without investing in inventory, significantly reducing financial risk.
In these lines, order processing automation ensures quick, accurate order management, prioritising urgent orders while maintaining cost-effective shipping and customer satisfaction. The technology can reduce the time and effort required to process orders, especially during peak holiday seasons, allowing retailers to focus on other aspects of their business.
Cloud-based solutions provide unparalleled operational scalability, enabling businesses to dynamically adjust resources based on demand without substantial upfront IT infrastructure investments. These platforms facilitate seamless integration across online store inventory, warehouse, and customer relationship management systems, ensuring that all aspects of the business are connected and can be managed from a single platform.
As the ecommerce landscape evolves, success will belong to businesses that embrace technological innovation, maintain operational flexibility, and prioritise customer experience. The future belongs to those who can effectively leverage advanced technologies while maintaining a human-centric approach to retail.
