For many retail businesses, Christmas is a season of peak demand and profits from the festive season will carry the business through the quieter times in the New Year.

Inventory management is crucial for a really successful Christmas retail period and the warehouse or storeroom is the heart of your retail business, something that may be overlooked in the rush to put together festive promotions, displays, and marketing campaigns.

Avoid Christmas chaos in your warehouse or storeroom and maximise the seasonal profits of your retail business by organising your storage so you can capitalise on the surge in demand that the festive season brings.

Rack King has solutions for your business and our quality products will help you to achieve peak season warehouse or storeroom organisation.

Why your storeroom needs a Christmas audit

Seasonal inventory is stock that becomes more popular at specific times of the year such as Christmas and Christmas retail stock management is crucial for your business.

All businesses will have stock that spikes in demand in the run up to the festivities such as gift items, decor items, toys, clothing and apparel, homeware, or food and drink items that will hopefully fly out the door of your business.

The flipside of seasonal demand is the fall in sales once the holiday period is over meaning that it is essential to manage the fluctuations in demand and avoid overstocking or stock outs.

As your business prepares to meet the upswing in demand that Christmas brings, optimising the organisation of your warehouse or stockroom is no longer a chore to be put of for another time, it is the single biggest strategic advantage your business can have to avoid stock outs, overstocking, and mispicks and maximise your Christmas profitability.

Maximising seasonal product storage for Christmas

Managing warehouse or storeroom capacity effectively is a perennial challenge, it’s not just an issue at Christmas.

However, the seasonal nature and short shelf life of festive stock means that it is imperative not to be left with overstock once the peak holiday buying period is over.

Managing your storage optimally can mean capitalising on seasonal surges in demand, and avoiding overstock and stockouts where customers are left dissatisfied and you lose sales.

ABC analysis

ABC analysis prioritises categories of inventory according to their importance or profitability for your business at any given time.

A items are those which are higher value and will generate the highest profits.

B items are of moderate value or mid- range products.

C items are lower value items which may make up a higher volume of your storage but generate less profits.

This model may be a way to optimise warehouse or storeroom layout and A items may be placed in the most accessible areas of the warehouse or storeroom to facilitate easier picking by staff and ensure that this stock is to hand and readily available to put on the shop floor or sell online.

Maximising product storage for the Christmas rush

The run up to the festive season is a busy time for business with the traditional 8th of December, Black Friday, and the run up to Christmas itself a key time for sales.

So, given that it is crucial to optimise warehouse space in the busy Christmas season and you may need additional storage for higher than usual levels of stock, how best to organise your warehouse or storeroom?

The answer lies in maximising your storage using quality Rack King storage solutions. We can help your business transform simple shelving into an effective tool in seasonal inventory management.

Storage solutions for seasonal overflow

Pallet racking and longspan shelving from Rack King can provide your business with much needed storage this Christmas.

First off, have a good declutter before your Christmas stock starts to be delivered. Consider removing unsold or out of season stock if possible and clear the area of unwanted clutter such as used packaging etc.

Ensure that aisles and exits are clear for staff safety when loading and unloading pallets or shelves and when picking items, whether manually or with a forklift.

Additional storage means that your business has stock to hand when needed and avoids disappointing customers with shortages or out of stock notices on your website.

Seasonal and gift items can also be ordered earlier from suppliers to avoid longer supplier lead times that occur prior to the festive season.

Assess your space and see if there is capacity in the warehouse or storage room for additional longspan shelving or pallet racking. Rack King products are designed to be adaptable and you can purchase individual units to add to existing storage or you can create a customised layout using our starter and extension bays.

Mobile shelving such as mobile longspan shelving for Rack King is really useful for adding storage for a busy period that can later be stored elsewhere when not needed.

Mobile shelving is also really useful for A category or the most in-demand items in your inventory as they can be easily located and accessed by stuff when it is busy.

Using high density, higher pallet racking which has more vertical storage slots is a really useful way to use the height of your warehouse for storage.

Rack King pallet racking starter bays come in heights of up to 5 metres which are a great way to add height to your storage where your warehouse height allows this.

Rack King longspan shelving, for manual picking, comes in heights of up to 2.42 meters for storerooms.

When storing items on pallet racking, avoid open space by storing pallets with similar heights together. Rack King longspan shelving is available with different numbers of shelves or bays per frame suitable for stock of varying dimensions.

Likewise, when using longspan shelving in your storeroom, group items of similar height to maximise use of shelving and consider storing particularly bulky items in a separate unused area to maximise space for category A items.

Using your space effectively may involve eliminating aisles between racks or using double depth racking or drive through racking to use every inch of available space when stock levels are high.

Double depth racking is two pallets deep and increases storage density as does drone in/ drive through racking where aisles are eliminated and pallets are loaded and unloaded from the front only.

Rack King pallet racking is easily customisable with starter bays and extension bays available in various configurations and heights.

Labelling is crucial as all staff need to be able to find and replenish items, often when your business is busy and demand is high. Likewise you will want all items to be visible to avoid items being mislaid or left in the warehouse rather than sold.

Rack King pallet racking and longspan shelving is designed to fit your storage space whatever its size and layout. Our pallet racking and longspan shelving are also designed to be adaptable and easy assembly makes it easy to reconfigure the space as needed.

Having an organised and clear layout means that Categories of A.B, and C stock can be clearly visible and accessible in the warehouse or storeroom.

Where your business sells online, you may wish to set aside a space in the warehouse or storeroom dedicated to temporary storage of click and collect items for speedy retrieval when a customer arrives. Having a quick and efficient click and collect experience creates a very positive impression of your business for customers.

For online sales, adding a packing area, maybe a Rack King workbench, means that all packing materials and equipment are to hand near a stable, flat surface for packaging and labelling orders.

Rack King for your Christmas retail storage needs

Optimise your Christmas retail operations with Rack King pallet racking and longspan shelving. For festive retail success, faster restocking, fewer errors, and ultimately happier customers, a well organised storeroom or warehouse is essential.

Rack King products are highest quality, EU manufactured and certified, and are supplied nationwide in 3 working days.

Take a look at our extensive range of products online or call us to discuss any specific requirements you may have today.

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Why Choose Rack King?

  • Rapid nationwide delivery

  • Rapid installation service

  • Over 30 years in business

  • We can help you spec the project

  • Lots of stock in our warehouse

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