Category: Technology

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that the employee turnover rate in the warehousing sector has been as high as 49% annually. Due to this very high attrition rate, businesses often face severe fulfillment delays, low efficiency, and increasing costs.

So, why does this happen? Entry-level warehouse jobs are still considered to be manual, repetitive, and devoid of growth. To retain employees and reduce dependency on skilled labor, organizations must implement new technologies that keep their workers engaged.

However, it is not as easy as it sounds. With such a high attrition rate, employers cannot spend too much time on training. So, they need an effective, easy-to-use solution that gives them a good ROI. Here’s where Increff Warehouse Management System comes in.  

In this blog, we will showcase the top 5 reasons why Increff WMS is the ideal solution for managing your warehouse operations.

1) Quick deployment and easy maintenance

While legacy systems can take anywhere from 4 to 6 months to deploy, Increff WMS can be up in just 1 week. It can also integrate with your existing ERP system alongside any other e-commerce platform or logistics management system you are using. This allows for a seamless experience and easy management of all your functions from a single touchpoint.

Unlike traditional on-premise solutions, which require regular hardware maintenance and updates, Increff WMS is a cloud-hosted hardware agnostic solution requiring no additional upkeep. It can run on a smartphone and also has Chrome accessibility. The system will be auto-updated whenever a new feature, bug fix, or upgrade is released.

2) Effortless learning and operations

The most critical thing for a warehouse management solution is ease of use. At the end of 2022, there were almost 500,000 open warehouse jobs. It shows businesses are unable to retain employees, and the turnover rate is very high. So, companies cannot spend a ton of time and resources on training new employees.

Increff realizes this, and its Warehouse Management Solution is designed to have a very shallow learning curve. With our simple and intuitive user interface, your employees can be trained on Increff WMS’s individual activities in just 5 minutes, unlocking high productivity from day one. 

It also simplifies the entire operations process with a single channel for B2B and B2C order processing and easy error tracking. The system is manually operated and has automation capabilities using the available data and operating via conveyor belts. Even though the system is manually operated, it has a 100% foolproof mechanism where the user cannot proceed to the next step if an error is detected.

3) Unbelievable accuracy

Increff WMS ensures the highest level of inventory accuracy with a promise-to-ship agreement that guarantees 99.99% accuracy at the bin level. This means you can trust that your inventory is always up-to-date and you never oversell or undersell your products.  It also offers an extremely swift inventory-order sync time of 10-15 seconds to ensure you never take extra orders without having the units to fulfill them.

The solution also upgrades your inventory management by enabling serialization that prevents duplicate scanning of items and achieves 100% first-time-right operation. As for when products are to be collected for shipment, it optimizes the path around the warehouse for more picks with lesser distance traveled, saving a lot of time and effort.

4) Simplified decision-making

It is important for businesses to be able to analyze different KPIs associated with inventory, order management, and putaway to get an overall picture of the warehouse performance. 

With 80+ actionable reports from Increff WMS, businesses get access to important insights that allow for data-backed decision-making rather than simply following one’s gut or using traditional methods like spreadsheets. Our reports cater to different stakeholders, including warehouse managers, operations, finance, category, and supply chain teams, allowing for simplified decision-making at all levels of your organization. 

5) Scalability 

For any business, scalability is a very important factor when considering a new solution. You wouldn’t want to change your systems frequently while experiencing high growth, which could slow down processes and increase traction. 

So, even if you are a small company projecting a very high growth rate but with a low order volume currently, Increff WMS can meet your requirements. While for enterprises, it can scale as required and even process up to 100k+ dispatches per day per the warehouse. The solution also maximizes your warehouse space utilization saving storage and labor costs.

Apart from being simple and efficient, Increff WMS is also the best in the market, with 200+ brands believing in what we have to offer. Gartner has also recognized Increff as a notable vendor in its report “Asia/Pacific Context: Magic Quadrant for Warehouse Management Systems” for 3 consecutive years now.

Schedule a quick demo to learn more about our solution and explore how we can help your business.

Until recently people hailed 5-day delivery as quick. Nowadays, consumers expect delivery to take no longer than 24 – 48 hours. With speed and agility spearheading order fulfillment, the time between booking an order and receiving it is decreasing. Retailers with digital presence have felt the need for a better supply chain to manage customer expectations. 

Going by the statistics, an incompetent order fulfillment strategy can lead to business loss. Thus, it’s imperative for retailers and brands to bring their A-game.

E-commerce order fulfillment process: Examining the current situation

E-commerce order fulfillment was mostly carried out by centrally located warehouses or distribution centers far from customer locations. Since inventory allocation was solely based on rough estimates determined by past years’ sales patterns. Depending on where the fulfillment center is, shipping costs and delivery times would vary.

Let’s expand on them in detail.  

Loopholes in this strategy

When fragmented data from multiple distribution centers and warehouses is combined, managing the high volume without an ideal omnichannel order management strategy becomes a mammoth task.

The current system has the following problems:

1. Inefficient warehouse management: Warehouses are intricate ecosystems where multiple processes work simultaneously. An improperly managed warehouse leads to inaccurate inventory information, inefficient space utilization, and mismanaged picking procedures, all impacting business productivity and employee efficiency at various levels.

2. Mismanagement of peak sales: Incorrectly assigned inventory is a surefire way to stockouts – every retailer’s nightmare. Its inefficient tracking and management lead to stockouts that not only impact profitability and sales but also cause customer dissatisfaction and reduce loyalty.

3. Delayed delivery: Longer delivery times have now become the quickest way to lose customer trust. Especially if they have paid extra for expedited shipping, they expect delivery within the promised timeframe. Delayed order fulfillment is often due to inefficient warehouse operations, inventory mismanagement, and inaccurate demand analysis.

4. High fulfillment costs: In order to meet the strict delivery timelines, brands opt for faster shipping options. Items when shipped from a centralized location far from customers, take longer to reach and cost more. High shipping and logistics cost reduces profit margins and overall brand revenue.

5. Lost sales opportunities: Inaccurate demand assessment leads to improper inventory distribution, overstocking, and stockout scenarios. Without timely replacement or replenishment, brands lose sales and revenue. If styles are available in stores but not exposed to online sales channels, their visibility reduces thus impacting total turnaround time and increasing chances of markdowns. 

Using an omnichannel approach to enable faster order fulfillment

Growth in e-commerce and the need for instant gratification have met with unexpected challenges. Such bottlenecks in the supply chain prevent brands from reaching their full growth potential hence it’s critical to address them.

Increff omnichannel order management and merchandising solutions are designed to extend efficiency and visibility across all retail sales channels. 
Let’s see how they can up your delivery game:

1. Boosting warehousing efficiency – Increff WMS is a web-based multi-channel order management system that provides a single view of inventory across all marketplaces with real-time order inventory sync. Inventory serialization enables digitization and automation to achieve 100% First-Time-Right operations. Order priority-wise picklist generation and optimized pick paths ensure ~99.9% order fulfillment within the promise-to-ship time. 

2. Managing peak sales- Robust tech stack and real-time inventory order sync ensure complete synergy between the marketplace and warehouse. It prevents chances of excess order cancellations which lead to customer distrust. The auto-replenishment feature sends prompts when a fast-selling stock is getting exhausted so it can be reordered on time to avoid stockouts.

3. Enabling 24-48 hrs delivery – By conducting pin code level demand analysis with Increff Merchandising Software regional utilization module, brands can distribute inventory according to existing demand. This brings inventory closer to the customer and ensures faster order fulfillment from the nearest location. 
4. Lower fulfillment costs – With Increff Cloud Warehousing service, brands can outsource inventory and order management to experts to reduce CapEx and improve operational efficiency.

5. Enable Omnichannel retailing– Increff O2O (Offline to Online) allows brands to expose store inventory to online sales channels for better visibility and faster order fulfillment from stores. 

Omnichannel order fulfillment for the win 
Undoubtedly, an omnichannel fulfillment system can augment and enhance your sales and revenue. In this day and age, where time equals money, businesses need to optimize their processes to enhance productivity. Intrigued to know how our suite of retail tech solutions can empower your business? Head to our website. 

Are you managing warehouse operations with systems that make you raise questions like:

• How is my inventory placed in the warehouse and is the bin space optimally utilized?
• How often should I plan my audits so that I can plan the warehouse shutdown accordingly?
• Will my existing manpower be able to manage the peak season rush or do I need more hands to support the order flow?  

These red flags indicate it’s high time to replace your existing system. Bring in Increff Warehouse Management System for efficient inventory and order management.

Here’s what makes Increff WMS, the world’s simplest and most efficient cloud-based warehouse management system, the right choice for your retail business compared to any other systems.

Contact us to know more (HERE)

You could be one of the most seasoned merchandisers and yet you could fall for some common supply chain mistakes. Often these result in inflated costs, poor workforce management, sub-optimal processes, delays in fulfillment, and lots of confusion and errors. It is necessary that these mistakes are brought under the scanner and fixed before they leave a severe dent on the business growth.

Below we discuss 7 common mistakes that need immediate attention. 

1. Choosing too many tech vendors

Mistake

It could be quite tempting to implement multiple tech solutions from different vendors, considered experts or specialists, at multiple stages of the supply chain. However, this can result in creation of silos, and a lack of coordination among different processes especially if there are separate screens to track the progress of each stage. Multiple dashboards require extensive coordination and great resource time in management, it affects inventory visibility and reduces clarity, leading to a fragmented workflow.  

Fix

Instead of installing separate tech solutions to monitor individual processes e.g. OMS, WMS, Returns Management, etc. within a warehouse, it is beneficial to find the right tech partner with a single comprehensive solution to ensure seamless workflow and inventory accuracy. A single view of inventory provides one source of truth and ensures transparency within the warehouse to boost efficiency by making coordination between different arms of retail operations easier. 

2. Inappropriate use of data

Mistake

Making the maximum use of data is crucial to take accurate supply chain decisions, cutting costs, and ensuring the right products reach the right customer clusters. Inaccurate analysis or working manually on tedious Excel worksheets can lead to incorrect interpretations and missed sales opportunities.

Fix

Install algorithm-based, intelligent merchandising solutions that automated decision-making to minimize human intervention, offer quick decisions, and ensure accurate merchandise planning, buying, and allocation. By drilling down analysis to the individual store level, decision-making becomes highly granular and accurate. This also enables brands to shelve the right stock at the right store in the right quantity, thus avoiding over or under-stocking and capturing sales effectively.

3. Ill inventory health in stores

Mistake

Fashion brands are especially sensitive to the health of the inventory in stores because the demand changes rapidly with seasons and trends. With expanding business requirements, brands could overlook the importance of keeping the right stock, in the right quantity, at the right location, and at the right time. This leads to problems like aging stock, leftover stock, and inadequate size and style. Stock brokenness can lead to the unavailability of popular styles and a significant loss of sales.

Fix

Ensure you conduct an accurate demand forecast for the upcoming season and regularly replenish the stores to meet in-season demand spikes. Pull back slow-moving inventory to make space for better-performing styles. By maintaining the health of the inventory, you also minimize the possibility of running out of popular styles. Investing in good inventory management software enables you to minimize human errors, streamline merchandising, and maintain a healthy inventory.

4. Poor cost management strategies

Mistake 

A number of poor management practices can lead to an unnecessary increase in costs. This starts with the overproduction of goods which overshoots the estimated market demand causing overstocking, obsolescence, and wastage. A mismatch in supply and market demand can cause wastage or shortage, and subsequently a rise in transportation costs due to in-season redistribution. As brands expand their territorial footprint, ordering from a faraway centralized warehouse can become costly. Likewise, investing in warehouse infrastructure where you hope the demand would increase, also means unnecessarily blocking precious resources.

Fix

Use data-backed solutions to accurately forecast demand for a particular customer cluster. Merchandising solutions can help you stock the right styles and sizes for each market, ensuring zero wastage. With distributed warehousing and collaboration with 3PL partners, you can avoid investing in warehousing infrastructure, and convert your CAPEX into OPEX. Likewise, with regional utilization brands can ensure that most of their orders are fulfilled locally, and transportation costs are reduced dramatically. 

New-age technology solutions like Increff Cloud Warehousing, enable automation and offer a simple UX/UI to avoid the need for costly and time-consuming training. This increases the fungibility of your manpower and reduces dependency on expensive skilled labor. 

5. Single delivery service

Mistake 

Brands that focus only on one sales channel (say a website or social media) and develop myopia for all the others are likely to face the heat of intense competition. This is because customers are increasingly looking for quick fulfillment and ease of delivery from multiple points of contact with the brand. Brands which are unable to rise up to this new trend are likely to become irrelevant as omnichannel begins to dominate order fulfillment.

Fix

Create a walled garden of brand touch-points and experiences around your customers. Adopting omnichannel fulfillment and the latest fulfillment practices such as BOPIS, curbside pickup, or in-store pickup, enhances customer convenience and satisfaction. Omnichannel is also a cost-effective practice as it enables the brands to choose the most economical option to deliver goods to the customer.

6. Inefficient returns management

Mistake 

Brands could commit the mistake of ignoring their returns management as an auxiliary function of their supply chain. This can cause delays in returns logistics, slowing down of resale, stockpiling and obsolescence, or in-transit damage. Lacking the data about the reasons for return or the most repeatedly returned items could lead to regular repetition of past mistakes.

Fix

Have an automation-based returns management solution in place that will streamline the entire returns process. It enables you to sort and grade the returned goods, resell the good stock, and redirect the refurbished stock to the secondary market. This minimizes waste and enables brands to earn maximum value from the returned goods. Serialization enables 100% tracking of inventory and capturing the exact reason for returns in the barcode. Repeatedly returned products can be easily quarantined, analyzed, and removed from circulation to prevent unnecessary expenditure.

7. Excess discounting to clear stock

Mistake

Discounting could seem like the easiest way out to clear the stock at the end of the season, or during periods of slow sales. However, excess and indiscriminate discounting don’t just impact your margins, it also affects your brand image. Excessive discounting dilute the reputation of your brand and your customers may find it hard to trust the pricing of your products in the future.

Fix

Increff Markdown optimization solution enables brands to offer the right percentage of discount, just tipping the balance towards conversions, and preventing an excess drop in margin. This depends upon the ongoing performance of an item and the status of its inventory.

The mistakes discussed above could cost your business dearly as the intensely competitive marketplace of today leaves very little room for inefficiencies. Brands, therefore, need to plug all the possible loopholes and ensure the highest possible efficiency in their supply chain processes.