September is just around the corner and that can only mean one thing: operations are getting ready to face one of the most dynamic seasons of the year, their particular back to school. Are we ready?
The return of autumn has long since ceased to be synonymous with the end of summer, giving way to the association of this season with the arrival of such iconic dates in the consumer calendar as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas.
The busiest times for e-commerce promise to be back in full swing and, by extension, logistics and delivery services need to grease their wheels.
Take into account the background
Year after year, since the outbreak of the pandemic, logistics has broken records in the number of services provided to meet the demand of these days. In 2021 alone, according to the logistics employers' organisation UNO, logistics companies handled a total of 106 million shipments, which will represent a growth of 7% compared to last year and, once again, a new record.
On average, 3.7 million shipments were handled per day, although on peak days up to 5 million shipments were handled, coinciding with the week following the official start date of Black Friday.
Preparing for back to school
To cope with this volume of work, brands are frontloading campaigns as much as possible, ensuring that these peaks are spread out and not concentrated on peak days.
As the figures show, these events require an extraordinary level of work and an investment in technology and human capital beyond any average.
In this regard, it is expected that, as in the past, the sector will repeat the metrics of 2021, when transport companies strengthened their workforces and added a total of 1.5 million employees.15 million workersThe increase of 14% compared to the sector's average volume for the rest of the year.
The focus, on this occasion, will be on operational and strategic profiles, from delivery drivers, warehouse workers, customer service staff, demand forecasting specialists, data analytics and operations managers.
Partnership with technology
Beyond reinforcing the workforce, the objective of any actor in the supply chain is to face these peaks of activity without putting the workforce at risk. To this end, investment in technology becomes particularly relevant as, in many cases, its inherent scalability allows them to adapt their solutions to demand flows.
This also helps to address a scenario in which, more than ever, the supply chain is in the midst of a perfect storm: with bottlenecks delaying deliveries, supply shortages jeopardising production and inflation in energy and propulsion sources increasing the final price of products and impacting the end consumer.
3 subjects the supply chain can't afford to fail
The approach of the most important trading period of the year means, to a large extent, that the actors involved in the supply chain are trying to solve the logistical puzzle. To this end, there are three key issues or challenges that the industry cannot overlook.
Optimise
Tensions in supply chains across the globe are pushing up logistics costs. Despite the good economic outlook, according to McKinsey, inflation and supply problems have become the biggest threat to business growth during key dates such as Christmas.
The fact that hundreds of shipping routes have been wiped off the map, unbalancing supply and demand, and that since 2020 the industry has been chronically short of containers, and even of wood for pallets and cardboard packaging, further clouds the picture.
Faced with this challenge, players should focus on the part of the chain that is relevant to them, trying to optimise the transport and logistics at regional or local level, thereby helping to alleviate the costs generated by the global stress on supply chains.
Diversify
As has been the case since 2020, all forecasts suggest that by 2022 consumers will once again want to have all options on the table: from physical shops and e-commerce to marketplaces.
In this line, logistics companies will have to face the need to supply each channel according to needs, improving the management of all operations linked to omni-channel logistics.
For this, anticipation and planning must be present from the outset.
Make more flexible
Since the outbreak of the health crisis, based on the latest IRU data, Europe has lost 25% of its professional drivers. In markets such as Spain, the gap between supply and demand of hauliers is estimated to increase by 150%.
Labour shortages have led to delays in the delivery of goods as an immediate consequence, affecting not only production processes, but also these consumer campaigns.
Faced with the economic challenge that this represents, it is up to logistics to take advantage of the benefits of technology and opt for flexible solutions, capable of adapting to the possible impacts of this situation.
In general, the increased stress on national and international supply chains makes it necessary to take measures to confront the 'back to school' of logistics where, for yet another year, demand will set the pace of learning.
