We talked about how 2017 was for Optima and what we achieved, and now it’s time we focused on you. How did your warehouse perform last year?

Perhaps your products, brand or website really took off, thanks to hard work from your marketing department, or from a surprisingly popular or unexpectedly celebrity-endorsed social media post.

If you were snowed under with orders then you might have been grateful for your WMS. Maybe you’ve got ideas on how you can make your warehouse perform better.

Alternatively…

• Maybe you were busy but struggled to send orders out as your warehouse staff couldn’t quickly and easily find things in the warehouse
• Perhaps you didn’t really know what you had in stock, and so couldn’t keep your website and other ecommerce platforms up to date, meaning potential customers bought from competitors

Did you achieve your business goals?

Perhaps your whole company worked really hard, and you were able to achieve your goals in terms of things like:

• Revenue
• Cost savings
• Number of customers
• Orders dispatched
• And any other metrics you measure

Alternatively…

• Maybe despite everybody working hard, you didn’t achieve your goals
• Perhaps your processes and systems don’t work properly now that your company has grown

Did you make any significant changes?

Perhaps you implemented new technology to make your warehouse perform more efficiently that means that you can access the most up to date and accurate information about your Business you need, wherever you are.

Due to increased customer demand, perhaps you:

• Employed more people
• Moved to new premises
• Needed another warehouse

Alternatively…

• Maybe your ambitious expansion plan to also sell on eBay and Amazon didn’t pay off, as you couldn’t cope with the increase in orders
• Perhaps you couldn’t easily allocate stock to each platform, which delayed dispatch

Did you delay any significant changes?

Perhaps you put off a significant change such as investing in a WMS, moving to a new warehouse, or upgrading your fork lift trucks, due to cost, timescale or because you were so busy.

Alternatively…

• Maybe you rushed into something without giving it the attention and research it deserved
• Perhaps you’re stuck with something that might have been cheap, or quick to implement, but doesn’t really meet your needs

What problems did you encounter?

Perhaps you had some expected teething problems as you moved to a new system, took on more staff or moved premises.

You may have had some unexpected problems due to increased sales, meaning that you needed different couriers

Alternatively…

• Maybe you were taken by surprise when your warehouse printer or fork lift truck failed
• Perhaps dispatching orders took a lot longer, or required more manual work than you were anticipating

What about business growth?

Perhaps you managed to meet your ambitious growth targets, and were able to sell your products on more platforms, reaching a much wider target audience, and were able to ship more orders thanks to your impressive new WMS.

Alternatively…

• Maybe your business didn’t grow
• Perhaps your competitors’ businesses did

What will happen in 2018?

In order to improve on 2017, and learn from your experiences in 2017

• Have you identified the problems and what caused them?
• Have you got plans to improve your warehouse efficiency?
• Are you looking at improving your warehouse?
• Have you got a WMS provider shortlist?

Conclusion

If you think that your warehouse is not ready to meet your 2018 business goals, then perhaps we can help.

If you’re looking to make your warehouse more efficient and effective, then talk to us about:

• RF
• Automation
• Integration
• Reporting
• Flexible contract

Read our Case Studies to learn more about how Optimiser WMS helps companies like furniture suppliers Kettle Interiors. online fashion retailer Chi Chi,  and automotive industry supplier AMS, and the time and money saving measures we have helped implement.

Contact us at 01270 500777 to tell us how we can help you.

The post How did your warehouse perform last year? appeared first on Optima Warehouse Solutions.