Increasing Order Accuracy in Your Fulfillment Center
Scott Hothem • December 16, 2013
A fundamental pillar of a strong fulfillment center is accuracy. Order accuracy is the one tangible, logistical element that ties your company to your consumer. As soon as a customer places an order for your product, whether your fulfillment provider recognizes it or not (and they should), a bond is formed. You’ve spent too much time, money, and effort enticing customers to purchase, just to have the ball dropped when they actually open their wallets. Breaking this trust with your consumer can be absolutely detrimental to your business and your brand. Besides damaging your company’s reputation, it has a significant impact to your margins and bottom line. A study by MHI shows that 39% of retail companies face a key challenge with inaccurate order delivery dates.
Fulfillment accounts for 50-60% of your labor expenses, far and away the most intensive and expensive costs your distribution center will incur. However, the massive significance of fulfillment operations in keeping your customers satisfied more than justifies this steep investment. And as with any investment, keeping tabs on the efficiency of the fulfillment performance is the only way to earn a return and avoid unnecessary delay and expenditures.
Observing your distribution center during a shift can provide a handful of reasons for your poor order accuracy results. In particular, two areas are likely having the greatest impact on your accuracy, or lack thereof. Stocking activity is typically a major component in fulfillment errors. A study by intelligrated.com shows that stocking activity is responsible for nearly a quarter of all order fulfillment mistakes.
Ideally, stocking is done before picking, synchronizing, or slotting. Performing these activities in this particular sequence will reduce the instances of having unavailable merchandise. Further, providing more slots for high-velocity items and separating similar type items from each other are two easy ways to reduce fulfillment errors. According to a Supply Chain Quarterly survey, stocking practices were a leading factor in 76% of companies with accuracy issues.
In addition to stocking activity, picking motions pose a tremendous threat to order accuracy. Creating the most efficient picking motion possible will alleviate many of the mistakes within your supply chain. Items that are difficult to reach or heavier products that are organized incorrectly increase the likelihood of inaccurate picking. Creating distinct zones for different types of products and balancing such zones with the appropriate equipment can reduce these concerns. Optimizing the picking protocol for a mid-sized retailer can improve order accuracy by 34%, as stated in a 2012 case study by Logistics Planning.
Given the urgency and utmost importance to deliver the correct order to your customers, there are proven methods you can put in place to increase your order accuracy. Partnering with a qualified fulfillment provider can be an effective way to enhance your order accuracy and has a direct correlation to your customer service, brand reputation, and bottom line.
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By the time your inventory reaches the Port of Baltimore, it has already completed a considerable journey. But for the brand waiting on those products, arrival at the port is hardly the finish line. The merchandise still needs to clear the next stage of its journey, reach a warehouse, become available for distribution, and ultimately find its way to a retailer or customer's doorstep. When those steps involve unnecessary distance or too many handoffs, an exciting arrival can quickly become another source of complexity. For brands importing through Baltimore, the location of the warehouse deserves a closer look. Keep the Next Step Close When your inventory finally reaches the Port of Baltimore, you want the next step to feel like progress, not another logistical hurdle. Barrett Distribution Centers' Curtis Bay facility is located within 10 miles of the port, creating a natural transition from international transportation into domestic fulfillment. Rather than viewing Baltimore simply as the place where products enter the country, brands can use it as the starting point for what comes next, whether that means preparing inventory for retail, fulfilling ecommerce demand, or moving products farther into their distribution network. For Horseware, an Irish equestrian brand working with Barrett for its United States fulfillment, that location carried real significance. “Barrett’s strategic Mid-Atlantic warehouse location, near the Port of Baltimore, is pivotal for us,” said Conor Farrelly, Logistics Manager at Horseware. Horseware's decision was not based on proximity alone. Barrett's experience supporting retail, business to business, and ecommerce fulfillment also mattered because imported inventory rarely has only one destination. Your Inventory Arrived. Now What? Picture a container filled with products arriving in Baltimore. Inside, some of that inventory may eventually be purchased by an ecommerce customer. Another portion could be destined for a retailer. Certain products may require labeling, pre ticketing, palletization, cross docking, or other preparation before they are ready to continue moving. Suddenly, the warehouse is doing much more than providing square footage. That is where the conversation around port proximity becomes more interesting. Barrett's Baltimore operation can support ecommerce fulfillment, retail distribution, omnichannel operations, and value added services, giving brands the ability to move inventory from international arrival toward the channels where it will actually generate demand. For a growing brand, that versatility matters. Sales strategies evolve, retailer opportunities emerge, and a business that once relied predominantly on one channel can gradually become far more complex. The warehouse receiving imported inventory should not become the obstacle standing between today's operation and tomorrow's opportunity. Look Beyond the Distance on the Map It is easy to evaluate port warehousing by mileage alone. Certainly, distance matters, but a nearby building is only useful if the operation inside it can support the business waiting on the other side. A more revealing question is: What can happen to our inventory once it gets there? Does the location make sense not only for receiving products, but also for moving them toward the markets and customers they ultimately need to reach? Those questions transform warehouse selection from a real estate decision into a broader fulfillment decision. For brands importing through the Port of Baltimore, proximity can create a valuable beginning. What ultimately matters, however, is where the operation allows the brand to go from there. Your products have already traveled a long way to reach Baltimore. The right warehouse should help make the rest of their journey count. Looking for a 3PL that takes the time to understand your business? Start a conversation with Barrett Distribution Centers.
Holiday volume rarely arrives politely. It does not wait for receiving to quiet down, retail orders to clear, or every incoming shipment to find its place. Customers simply begin buying. Promotions launch, popular products accelerate, retailer requirements continue, and inventory keeps entering the building while orders are moving out at an entirely different pace. For an omnichannel brand, that is what makes peak season particularly demanding. The challenge is not merely fulfilling more ecommerce orders. It is sustaining the rest of the business while one part of it becomes considerably busier. Peak Does Not Replace Your Normal Business A holiday forecast might predict a significant increase in direct to consumer orders, but those orders do not exist in isolation. Business to business shipments still need attention. Retail commitments remain. Inventory must be received. Special projects may continue. Personalized orders can require additional touches at precisely the moment speed becomes increasingly important. Harrison Smith , Director of Commercial Revenue at Barrett Distribution Centers, emphasizes the importance of examining these patterns rather than relying on broad annual averages. “It’s looking at yearly trends, looking at within the year, what does that look like? Do you have those peaks?” Understanding the peak is important. Understanding everything happening around the peak is equally consequential. A brand could finish the year with an average of 5,000 monthly orders, for example, while experiencing dramatically different volumes from one month to another. Once promotions, seasonal inventory, retail activity, and multiple sales channels enter the equation, the average begins to conceal more than it reveals. As Harrison explains, “When I work with brands, I wanna understand everything about the business.” That broader perspective gives a fulfillment partner context. It helps explain not simply how much work is coming, but when it is coming, where it is coming from, and what else the operation will be responsible for at the same time. Omnichannel Growth Changes the Peak Season Equation A growing brand may begin with a relatively straightforward direct to consumer model. Success often introduces something more complicated. Retail opportunities emerge. Business to business volume grows. Marketplaces become relevant. New products require different handling. Suddenly, fulfillment is no longer about moving one type of order through one channel. Scott Wilkins has spoken about this progression throughout his years working with Barrett customers. One of the advantages of building an operation capable of supporting multiple channels is that a brand does not have to reinvent its fulfillment strategy every time a new opportunity appears. That experience becomes especially valuable during peak because each channel brings its own requirements. A direct to consumer order and a major retailer order may contain the same product, but they are not necessarily the same fulfillment task. Without the right experience behind the operation, Scott cautions that “brands can get into trouble really, really quickly.” During the busiest months of the year, there is considerably less room for that learning curve. Your 3PL Needs More Than a Forecast Forecasts provide a starting point, but numbers become far more useful when brands explain what is driving them. If marketing is preparing a major promotion, tell your fulfillment partner. If a retailer order is expected during an already busy week, communicate it early. If inventory is arriving later than planned or a particular product is suddenly outperforming expectations, that information belongs in the conversation too. This is where a strong 3PL relationship becomes less transactional. Bryan Corbett at Barrett has described the relationship between brands and their fulfillment partners as one built on expertise, honesty, and trust. His perspective is refreshingly practical: “Sometimes the customer's not always right. And sometimes Barrett's not always right. Sometimes we make mistakes.” Peak season does not eliminate those realities. If anything, increased volume magnifies them. Plans change. Forecasts miss. Unexpected problems emerge. The strength of the operation becomes visible in how people respond. As Bryan puts it, “You show your expertise through your honesty and your trustworthiness. You can’t separate the two.” Growth Should Create Opportunity, Not Fragility The ultimate objective of peak planning is not to construct a perfectly predictable holiday season. That would be unrealistic. It is to build enough visibility, communication, and flexibility into the operation that success does not destabilize everything surrounding it. Your holiday promotion should be allowed to outperform expectations. A retailer opportunity should feel exciting. A sudden surge in demand should represent momentum rather than an immediate operational crisis. That requires a fulfillment partner capable of seeing the entire business, not simply the orders accumulating in one queue. Because when holiday volume accelerates, the rest of your business does not disappear. It keeps moving, and your 3PL needs to be prepared to move with it. Looking for a 3PL that takes the time to understand your business? Start a conversation with Barrett Distribution Centers.
Customers may never know the names of the people receiving inventory, preparing orders, managing fulfillment, or solving problems behind the scenes. They may never see the warehouse at all. Yet every one of those decisions eventually reaches them. That reality makes the relationship between a brand and its 3PL unusually consequential. Fulfillment may happen outside a company's own walls, but the experience it creates still carries the company's name. Accuracy, presentation, responsiveness, and consistency all become part of how customers perceive the brand itself. For Katherine Wroth at Barrett Distribution Centers, one piece of customer feedback captures exactly what that relationship should feel like. “The biggest thing that I hear from clients and brands is they say, ‘I feel like Barrett is an extension of our brand.’ And that's exactly what we want at Barrett.” An Extension Should Be Able to Evolve With You Becoming an extension of a brand requires more than understanding how to fulfill today's orders. Businesses change, sometimes dramatically, and the operation supporting them must be capable of navigating that progression. Katherine points to customers that may begin primarily in direct to consumer fulfillment before expanding into business to business distribution and, eventually, a broader omnichannel model. Each stage introduces different expectations and complexities. The objective is continuity. “They can stay with Barrett instead of having to go to multiple 3PLs.” For a growing company, that continuity can become increasingly valuable. Expansion should open possibilities for a brand, not automatically trigger another search for a fulfillment provider capable of handling the next stage. Ownership Changes How People Approach the Work The idea of acting as an extension of a customer's brand also depends on the people making decisions inside the warehouse. William Johnson describes an ownership mentality that encourages Barrett employees to consider the consequences of those decisions personally. “Everybody in our building runs this as if they're the owner. So, we're always looking at it from a perspective, if this was my money, how would I spend it?” That philosophy becomes more tangible through Barrett's participation in the Great Game of Business. William explains that Barrett uses profit sharing and open book financial practices to engage employees as owners and give them greater visibility into the financial success of the business. The concept is straightforward but meaningful. When people understand how their decisions influence a larger outcome, their work becomes more than a sequence of individual tasks. They gain context for why those decisions matter. That investment extends to professional growth as well. William describes daily huddles and a workplace where employees regularly progress from hourly positions to leads and from leads to supervisors. The People Behind the Operation Matter Culture can sound abstract until you hear from someone who has experienced it firsthand. In the video, Scott Hothem reflects on his own experience at Barrett with a simple observation: “I love it here. I love the family feeling here.” That sense of familiarity carries into how Barrett wants customers to experience the company. Scott describes Barrett as a family owned business with the scale to support growing brands while retaining the personal connection that can disappear inside a much larger organization. “They know they're not getting a faceless 3PL. They're getting a family-owned business that's large enough to grow their business anywhere.” That distinction matters because fulfillment is ultimately performed by people. Technology can improve visibility. Systems can connect sales channels. Processes can create consistency. Scale can provide room for growth. Yet people still make decisions, communicate when circumstances change, and determine how problems are addressed. A 3PL becomes an extension of a brand when those people recognize that the inventory in front of them represents something larger than products sitting inside a warehouse. It represents a company's reputation and, ultimately, the experience promised to its customers. The warehouse may belong to your 3PL. The experience leaving it still belongs to your brand. Looking for a 3PL that takes the time to understand your business? Start a conversation with Barrett Distribution Centers.
