Black Friday Can Be a Logistics Nightmare!

What Makes a Successful Holiday Shopping Season?

Who remembers the craziness of holiday shopping over trying to find a Cabbage Patch Kids doll or Tickle Me Elmo? For retailer’s, a toy of the Christmas holidays is a dream but for those in the logistic business, it can be a nightmare. We all remember the Cabbage Patch Kids and Elmo because both of these situations represented the fact that supply did not meet the demand.

What makes the holiday shopping season a success? It’s Logistics! With the official start of the holiday shopping season being Black Friday (now in Canada), retailers want to make sure that they are not out of stock of a popular gift item. For many retailers, ocean containers from the Far East can take anywhere from a few weeks to a month, not including customs clearance and shipment to the final destination.

Thinking about Demands on Transportation Hubs

The National Retail Federation estimates that there will be approximately 135.8 million shoppers shopping in store and online during the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend. To meet the demand, supply chain managers need to plan in September to meet the purchasing demand. In transportation hubs such as Chicago, logistic companies need to plan for the increase in shipments during the months of September and October.

There is a downside to all this transportation activity, and that is that the entire supply chain system can come under severe strain. There are only so many trucks available for retailers to ship their goods. Lack of planning, last minute replenishment shipments or even transport breakdown can cause problems in the logistic chain. When it comes to Black Friday shipments, most logistic companies can tell you of a shipment gone wrong, it’s Murphy’s Law! Delays at ports, manufacturing issue or sudden changes in weather can ruin the best laid out plans for those Black Friday deals.

This is the season for companies such as ADLI Logistics to deliver. Working in advance with a company such as ADLI will help to minimize the potential for issues to arise and ensures that your product meets the demands of the holiday shopping season. ADLI knows that when all goes right, your product will hit the shelves on time for holiday shopping, the largest revenue generating time of the year.