Summer is here - and so is travel season. Is your fulfillment strategy ready?
As temperatures rise and vacation plans take shape, consumers are stocking up on everything from luggage and chargers to portable stoves and summer apparel. For brands in the travel and outdoor gear space, this surge in seasonal demand is a critical opportunity, but only if your fulfillment operations are ready to keep pace.
Whether your customers are prepping for cross-country road trips, long-awaited flights abroad, or spontaneous weekend getaways, your logistics partner plays a pivotal role in getting your products to them on time and in perfect condition.
Now is the time to double-check your supply chain. Is your 3PL equipped to handle the summer surge? Can they offer the flexibility, visibility, and services you need to make the most of this peak season?
In this post, we’ll walk through key fulfillment strategies that help brands thrive during travel season: from inventory planning and omnichannel logistics to quality checks, returns, and value-added services.
Let’s dive in.
When is peak travel gear season?
Travel can happen at any time throughout the year, but there are generally three periods when it peaks:
- Spring break. Travel for spring break generally occurs between March and April.
- Summer vacation. Typically, summer vacation occurs during June, July, and August.
- Winter break. Whether traveling for the holidays or for a warm getaway during the coldest months, winter break trips usually occur in December and January.
When preparing for spring break, summer vacation, or winter break, shoppers generally begin stocking up on necessities anywhere from a few weeks to a few months ahead of time—and your fulfillment partner should be ready and waiting.
What do shoppers buy when preparing for travel?
Travelers typically look for vacation gear that will allow them to have all their necessities on hand in the most convenient way possible. To that end, here are some of the top vacation gear items for travel season:
- Luggage, including backpacks, duffel bags, rolling suitcases, and luggage tags
- Travel accessories such as sleep masks, travel pillows, packing cubes, chargers, plug adapters, headphones, water bottles, and more
- Clothing, including activity-specific or versatile items, and shoes
- Personal hygiene items like toiletry bags and bottles, disposable razors, travel towels, and even travel detergent
- Outdoor gear such as sleeping bags, tents, travel stoves, camping food, sleeping pads, and lanterns/headlamps
Strategies For Summer Fulfillment Success
Omnichannel Logistics
To maximize your reach and revenue, you want to meet your customers where they are. Whether they prefer to shop at a big retailer – in store or online, directly on your website, or via another sales channel, your fulfillment and logistics processes need to be equipped to reach them. This can be a lot to organize and manage. We recommend working with a fulfillment partner who provides effective omnichannel logistics services: retail, D2C, ecommerce drop shipping, Amazon Marketplaces Services.
Inventory Management
Ensure that you have sufficient inventory of your most popular products to meet an increased demand as we approach the summer season. By analyzing past sales data and market trends, you can forecast demand and plan accordingly.
Quality Assurance
Testing your products under various conditions to ensure they meet customers' expectations is an important part of your fulfillment process. These quality checks serve to minimize returns and improve your customer’s experience. There are some 3PLs that will work with you to implement a quality control process within the warehouse to take this labor off your plate while granting you peace of mind in this arena.
Shipping and Logistics
There are many carriers to choose from. Assessing your options based on cost, reliability, delivery speed, and other factors is a lot to take on. Consider working with a 3PL who has already done this research and has established relationships with carriers.
Warehousing & Distribution
If you manage your own warehouse, now is a good time to optimize your warehouse layout and operations to streamline your picking, packing, and shipping processes for the upcoming busy season. If you partner with a fulfillment company, be sure to communicate with them about any expected increase in orders so they can also prepare appropriately for the peak period.
Returns and Reverse Logistics
Establish a clear and customer-friendly return policy for your products. Also be sure to have an efficient process in place for handling returns. Even better, work with a 3PL who can handle your reverse logistics for you and also repack or refurb your returns for resale.
Value-Added Services
Summer is a great time for promotions, bundles, special kits, displays, and more. Take advantage of these services if you work with a 3PL that offers them. Having your 3PL manage these tasks can help you save money, shorten delivery times, or improve your customers' experience. Ask your partner if they offer value-added services like kit assembly, product rework and refurbishment, design display and assembly, packaging, ticketing and labeling, or if they are open to collaborating on a new custom service for your product.
Flexible Logistics Technology
You need a WMS that is flexible and scalable. Ideally one that can be updated quickly to address changes, limited time promotions, or new reporting requirements. Many off-the-shelf platforms just don’t offer enough. At Motivational, we developed our own proprietary technology platform to meet our customers' unique needs and we have in-house experts who can make updates, secure integrations, and offer customer support in a cost effective and efficient manner. Your tech should also provide the right supply chain visibility. We recommend working with a platform that allows you to check inventory, orders, and everything necessary to effectively manage product fulfillment in real-time.
Is your fulfillment partner supporting your success and growth during travel season?
If you’ve noticed delays, errors, or inflexibility from your current logistics provider, now is the time to plan for a change. The right 3PL should be an extension of your team: proactive, tech-enabled, and ready to support your growth through every peak period.
If you’re ready to consider a better 3PL fulfillment company, we’d love to chat. Reach out to us today to learn more about our facilities, schedule a tour, and find out how we can support your growing business.
