Plan and optimise your warehouse space for the Christmas campaign

Black Friday, Christmas, and the January sales are all dates that stand out for their surges in sales. Warehouses need to be prepared for this increase in consumption to respond to the high demand and provide for correct storage. In these cases, planning and implementing solutions that optimise the space of the installations is key.

Christmas is around the corner and with it, one of the dates marked in red on the calendar for many sectors on account of their increase in sales. Food distributors, logistics or retail goods companies in general are already managing their warehouses for the expected surge in activity in the last quarter of the year. A growing demand that is not only related to the Christmas campaign, but also to the increased promotion of Black Friday in Europe, which has brought forward the rise in transactions and stock and storage requirements.

Added to this situation, online shopping habits acquired during lockdown and changes in consumer habits, predict that online sales will beat a new record of e-commerce transactions.

Taking all these factors into account, the space warehouses usually have available for some sectors is insufficient to face this surge in demand for products. Meals with friends and relatives translate into a spectacular increase in food sector purchases and the tradition of exchanging gifts makes it one of the best sales seasons for a wide variety of sectors such as clothing, cosmetics, toys, electronic goods, ecommerce… Plus, given that the period is followed by the sales season, the need to have more storage space remains crucial.

For all of these reasons, companies must be capable of adapting to this boost in activity, being flexible and responsive to demand seasonality. It is about planning sufficiently in advance to have an adequate space for storing goods that in a short-term will be received and exceed, in terms of quantity and order preparation speed, the usual space and pace of work.

Do you believe your company is prepared to face the storage and logistics challenge of Christmas or periods such as Black Friday? How can you optimise the storage space and capacity of your installations? Let’s take a look at different solutions that will help you to extend your storage space during sales campaigns with peak demand.

Solutions to optimise your warehouse space for Christmas

As mentioned earlier, extending the storage capacity is a requirement during campaigns such as Black Friday, Christmas, or the January sales. When it comes to setting up or modifying a warehouse to offer a more immediate response and deal with a rise in demand, racks or mezzanines are two ideal solutions for storage space expansion.

Before starting, it will be necessary to study the warehouse requirements, storage temperature, product sorting and distribution … as a retail and a food warehouse are not the same thing. A correct design of the layout makes it possible to optimise the space available, facilitate access to the load, better control stock, reduce load handling times, and achieve increased flexibility if changes need to be made in the distribution of the goods. Carrying out a preliminary study will allow us to choose the most appropriate storage solution.

Industrial racking to expand the storage capacity

One of the solutions in highest demand is metal racking, as it allows all types of products to be stored and covers the storage requirements of numerous sectors. There are different types of racking that, depending on the goods to be stored, can be classified into heavy-duty and pallet racking, and shelving for medium and light loads. Choosing the most appropriate racking system will help you to optimise your warehouse for the boost in Christmas sales:

• Pallet racking: Designed to store any palletised load, this racking is configured to create different storage systems: adjustable pallet racking, compact storage systems, live storage, mobile systems, semi-automated or automated systems, etc., The most widespread system in use due to its ease of assembly, financial cost and versatility is conventional pallet racking, which is multipurpose for the type of goods to be stored and permitted weights or load handling. The lower shelves of the pallet racking can even be adapted to store boxes and packages for picking purposes.
• Medium-duty racking: To store boxes or packages, indicated for manual handling or picking, where operators access the goods directly. When it comes to expanding or optimising the space, it can also be used on raised walkways creating storage at height; installing load levels with roller track planes to create live storage, or as a supporting element in mezzanines.

• Light-duty industrial shelving: This is a high-resistance product that provides storage for small and medium-sized manual loads on levels of trays. It is a highly versatile solution that allows for different configurations based on the load weight and volume requirements. At the same time, there are several accessories adapted to organise the goods: separators, plastic drawers, pullout trays, etc. It is the perfect solution for storing cosmetic products, fabrics, ecommerce, spares… Plus, they can also be used in picking systems at ground level or at great height.

Mezzanines, the ally for utilising high spaces

Mezzanines offer an additional solution to racking, whether open-plan on pillars or installed on racking. Mezzanines make the most of the height of the warehouse to increase the storage surface and obtain the maximum yield from the space available. They allow new storage zones to be created in locations not formerly used, quickly and without requiring works.

One or several floors can be designed at height and shelves can also be placed on the floor of the mezzanine, to increase the warehouse storage capacity.

Professional solutions adapted to each space

It is important for an extension of the workspace to be carried out by a team of professionals and based on a preliminary study to learn about the client’s requirements. In this way, we ensure an increased warehouse capacity and performance of the storage system, reducing costs and improving organisational processes.

At POLYPAL we have a wide range of storage systems that cover the needs of many different sectors. We manage the whole process: design, manufacture, and installation of the storage system to optimise the space of your installations before the Christmas campaign or in seasons of high product demand.

For more information about our solutions to expand or modify your storage space for Christmas or in seasons of peak demand, please contact POLYPAL.