After the long haul of winter, summer is a significant and much-awaited time of the year. It brings warm sunny days, extended holiday seasons, and a surge in economic activity, particularly in the retail and eCommerce sectors. This is the time to prepare for the increased demand and the need for enhanced 3PL services.

During the summer, the US economy experiences a surge in activity, particularly in the retail and eCommerce sectors. This period sees a significant increase in bulk orders, customer engagement, and the need for enhanced 3PL services to manage these seasonal spikes in demand and back-to-school orders. It’s crucial to adopt 3PL scalability techniques to handle the increased demand effectively.

To a retailer, it should be clear—the privilege of eCommerce is that hybrid shoppers do not shy away from exploring various platforms and prefer seamless synchronization among multiple shopping points to get the best deals. Some of the points of seasonal demand management to be pondered, redefined, and scaled-up are—

• 1. Efficient supply chain
• 2. Resources for managing bulk orders
• 3. Summer inventory management
• 4. Logistics optimization
• 5. Demand forecasting

Seasonal demands, summer peaks, or holiday seasons are when eCommerce and hybrid shopping prowess can be seen, as customers enjoy the freedom of shopping and ordering from anywhere. Redefining the modus operandi helps build good customer relationships and ensure efficient order fulfillment, which is why several retailers rely on the services of 3PLs.

Working on an ad hoc basis can never be a solution for 3PL service providers, so managing summer peaks should be a separate chapter in their annual 3PL Service Enhancement planning.

3PL Best Practices to Meet Summer Demand

Seasonal Fulfillment Strategies of 3PL service providers should be dedicated to efficient order fulfillment. For high-quality work dispensing and error-free demand fulfillment, 3PL service providers should have advanced technology with end-to-end automation. This would keep their clients updated on the business progress through real-time visibility. Some of the cutting-edge 3PL efficiency tips for profitable and lucrative 3PL Summer Planning are—

• 1. Scale up Technology: Third-Party Logistics Strategies should be comprehensive enough to empower stakeholders with real-time information and insights into trivial but essential data. Advanced technology seamlessly connects the system and shares updates, improves visibility, and increases accuracy in predictive analytics, which is helpful for seasonal demand forecasting, business expansion, and maximizing profit.
• 2. 3PL Scalability Techniques: For 3PL Performance Improvement, automation of warehousing, logistics, and shipping helps provide end-to-end visibility in real-time. This improves the performance level as 3PL providers can manage and control business from a single window. The installation of warehouse software also enables automation in the receipt, picking, sorting, packing, labeling, and shipping of inventories.
• 3. AI, Machine Learning, and AR: 3PL Resource Allocation would be faster, aligned, and free of manual error with Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Augmented Reality. AR is an advanced technology with an interactive feature; it can guide and provide the knowledge required for order fulfillment optimization. It is a boon for handling bulk orders during the peak summer season and a must for 3PL summer planning.
• 4. Optimizing Summer Logistics: Summer is the time for an unprecedented peak in demand. Retailers look to third-party logistics for operational excellence in order fulfillment, strengthening customer relationships, increasing profit margin, and sufficient inventory at the right time and in the correct warehouse. 3PL service providers must plan for summer shipping to protect temperature-sensitive goods, monitor weather conditions, communicate with drivers and cargo operators, have efficient packaging, and not miss summer holiday schedules to manage the transit time required to deliver an order. Real-time visibility for tracking and tracing shipments to stay informed about various constraints and opportunities, such as freight capacity of a container, route optimization, and clubbing orders to the exact location for sustainable delivery.
• 5. Flexibility and Adaptability: 3PL Operational Excellence can only be achieved if they are flexible and quick to adapt to changes in the logistics industry, supply chain operations, and customer demands. They should be aware of ongoing trends and adept at offering value-added services such as kitting, reverse logistics, emails, SMS, or social media

Reason for Businesses to Partner with 3PL

In addition to increasing production to meet the remarkable rise in demand, businesses must also manage supply chain operations efficiently. So, outsourcing logistics during peak demand seasons is always an intelligent idea, irrespective of a business’s size and period. Advantages of partnering with 3PL service providers—

• Supply chain scalability
• To be competitive
• Convenience in handling high volumes of orders
• Focus on innovative ideas and work on core competencies
• Logistics optimization
• Efficient order fulfillment
• Improved customer relationship
• Improve accuracy in seasonal demand forecasting
• Inventory management
• Access to advanced technology

A 3PL can capitalize on summer demand by offering the best warehouse management and logistics services to optimize order fulfillment.