A Message from the CEO, Tod Yazdi
Peak Season has arrived for omnichannel fulfillment and ecommerce order fulfillment networks! In fact, last month TAGG Logistics launched our annual TAGG Peak Prep program to help our clients have a strong holiday season again in 2022. TAGG Peak Prep is more important than ever this year. Here’s why:
- Holiday sales are expected to grow 7% over last year and E-commerce is anticipated to grow +4.2% YOY.4 While inflation is high, this growth is expected due new job creation, rising wages and lingering savings should position the consumers ready and able to spend.
- Consumers will extend their holiday shopping despite an 8.3% inflation rate over the last 12 months.1 In search of deals, consumers are expected to buy earlier & monitor prices as they look get more for their money. Promotional days like Black Friday & Cyber Monday are expected to make a strong return. Have you anticipated adjustments in your holiday sales forecast, and the impact of unpredictable volumes in your fulfillment network?
- The unemployment rate remains at a historic low of just 3.7% 3, despite the past 12 months of inflation we’ve experienced. This means staffing continues to be a challenge in nearly every sector of the economy, including in the fulfillment arena where warehouse workers and truck drivers are especially strained during the peak holiday season.
- In 2021, ecommerce sales increased 11% year over year, and accounted for 20% of holiday sales overall. In addition, we saw an incredible surge in “Buy Online Pick Up In Stores” (BOPIS), as consumers tried to shield for unpredictability in the supply chain, and port-related shipping delays.
- During the 2020 Holiday Season amidst the Covid pandemic, more than a million gifts ordered online were not delivered in time.2 The causes were unprecedented—including a boom in ecommerce order fulfillment, a tight labor market and a shortage of transportation capacity. No one wants to come even remotely close to revisiting these fulfillment conditions!
Ready to mitigate these challenges and get ahead of the Peak Season surge?
Look no further than TAGG Peak Prep. TAGG Peak Prep is our end-to-end omnichannel fulfillment and ecommerce order fulfillment plan for mitigating uncertainty across the supply chain. TAGG Peak Prep is a volume forecasting and resource allocation strategy built to keep client orders flowing in a timely manner during the peak holiday season.
Collaborating closely with our clients, TAGG has developed forecasting models to ensure we are positioned to manage the anticipated surge in holiday sales volume. We develop these models by first studying historical peak volume by TAGG order fulfillment center, individual TAGG client and shipping services. Then, we share these data analytics with clients to gain their insights and make any adjustments to 2022 planning.
Based on this modeling, every part of the TAGG organization is rallying around our goals:
- Executing the TAGG Peak Prep strategy across our fulfillment network
- Adjusting resources, including staffing levels, by order fulfillment center
- Increasing our use of robotics and other automation to increase capacity
- Ensuring the stability of our technology and instituting code freezes to support higher shipping volume
- Working closely with carriers to ensure trucks and drivers are available to meet the demand
We’re measuring the performance of TAGG Peak Prep by “days to ship.” TAGG will provide clients with a daily report of this key metric, which they can use to help set delivery expectations with their own customers during the peak holiday season.
Plan now for Peak Season success
Now that I’ve overviewed TAGG Peak Prep, let’s look at additional strategies you can use to manage the spike in sales volume during Black Friday and beyond:
- Ensure your mobile website delivers a strong, convenient brand experience (the majority of ecommerce sales will be via mobile this holiday season)
- Create a gift idea page to streamline the shopping experience, as well as to showcase inventory that you want to move faster
- Update your processing time and days-in-transit shipping information at checkout, to better inform your customers
- Hold sales promotions before Black Friday
In addition—if you have products with high seasonality—you can help TAGG plan ahead. Let us know if you anticipate having sales promotions during the holidays or any other activity that may create a spike in sales.
Your omnichannel fulfillment and ecommerce order fulfillment solution
TAGG Peak Prep is a comprehensive strategy to help you deliver the brand experience your customers expect during the peak holiday season. As your fulfillment partner, we’ll take care of the logistics—so you can take Your Business EverywhereSM this holiday season with confidence.
Cheers! And Happy Holidays from all of us on the TAGG team,
-Tod
1 TradingEconomics.com, https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/inflation-cpi
2 CBSnews.com. “More than one million packages will not reach their destination this Christmas.” December 24, 2020.
3 US Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/lau/
4 Businesswire.com, https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220911005077/en/Mastercard-SpendingPulse-U.S.-Retail-Sales-Expected-to-Grow-7.1*-This-Holiday-Season
