Your Holiday Orders Are About to Spike. What Happens to Everything Else?

Faith Artieda • October 6, 2026

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.

< Older Post

Recent Blog Posts

What Does It Mean When Your 3PL Feels Like an Extension of Your Brand?

By Faith Artieda • October 2, 2026

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.

Your 3PL Works Today. But Will It Still Work Five Years From Now?

By Faith Artieda • October 1, 2026

Choosing a 3PL often begins with an immediate need. Order volume may be accelerating, warehouse capacity may be narrowing, or the demands of managing fulfillment internally may be consuming time that could be better invested elsewhere in the business. Those pressures can initiate the search, but they should not define its entire scope. A fulfillment partnership has implications that extend well beyond the problems a brand needs to solve today. As the business matures, its distribution strategy may expand, customer expectations may evolve, and an operation that once felt perfectly adequate can become increasingly restrictive. The more consequential question, then, is not simply whether a 3PL can accommodate the business as it exists now. Can it continue supporting the brand as its ambitions become larger? Katherine Wroth at Barrett Distribution Centers sees that distinction as central to building enduring customer relationships. “We really want the clients that are vested in their growth, the ones that are planning to really scale their business.” Growth Has a Way of Redefining What a Brand Needs Some companies begin searching for a 3PL amid explosive growth. Others have successfully operated their own warehouses for years, gradually adding volume and complexity until the infrastructure that once served them well begins constraining what they can pursue next. Neither scenario necessarily indicates that something has gone wrong. Sometimes, the business has simply outgrown the environment that helped it reach this point. That is why Katherine describes Barrett as a “forever 3PL,” a partner intended to remain relevant as the business evolves rather than merely providing a temporary answer to an immediate capacity problem. “We will be there through the growth and help you scale to where you want to be.” At Barrett, longevity matters. Katherine points to relationships spanning five, seven, or even 10 years as the kind of partnerships the company strives to cultivate. Over that amount of time, businesses inevitably change. The value of the relationship lies partly in whether the fulfillment operation has the flexibility and experience to change alongside them. Cost Matters. So Do Timing and Fit. Price will always occupy an important place in a 3PL evaluation. Yet reducing the decision to cost alone can overlook the broader consequences of choosing a fulfillment partner. Katherine emphasizes timing and fit as essential considerations for a lasting relationship. A provider must be appropriate for the business entering the warehouse today, but it should also possess the capabilities to support the business that may emerge several years from now. That perspective becomes especially important for brands approaching a turning point. Moving from self fulfillment to a 3PL is significant. Changing providers again after another period of growth can be equally consequential. Evaluating long-term compatibility from the beginning gives brands an opportunity to think beyond the next shipment, season, or sales milestone. Growth will inevitably reshape a business. New opportunities will emerge, expectations will rise, and fulfillment requirements will become more sophisticated. The right 3PL should not merely accommodate that evolution. It should be prepared to grow through it with you. Looking for a 3PL that takes the time to understand your business? Start a conversation with Barrett Distribution Centers.

October Is Here. Do You Know Where Your Holiday Inventory Is?

By Faith Artieda • September 30, 2026

October has a way of making the holidays feel suddenly close. Marketing calendars are filling up. Promotions are taking shape. Black Friday and Cyber Monday plans have moved from ideas to actual deadlines, and forecasts are being revisited as brands get a clearer picture of what the final months of the year could bring. Meanwhile, somewhere in the supply chain, holiday inventory is moving too. Some of it may already be sitting in a fulfillment center. Some may be arriving this week. Other products could still be in transit, waiting to be received, or scheduled to arrive much closer to the moment customers begin looking for them. Knowing how much inventory you purchased is one thing. Knowing where it is, when it will arrive, and whether it will be ready when demand arrives is another. Peak Season Starts Before the Orders Do Holiday fulfillment conversations naturally focus on outbound orders. How many orders will come in? How quickly can they ship? What happens if a promotion performs better than expected? Those questions matter, but they begin in the middle of the story. Before an order can leave a fulfillment center, inventory has to get there. It needs to be received, accounted for, stored, and ready to move when customers start buying. During a busy season, that incoming flow of product can be just as important as what is heading out the door. Harrison Smith , Director of Commercial Revenue at Barrett Distribution Centers, looks closely at those patterns when learning about a brand. With roughly 20 years in the 3PL industry, he knows that understanding peak is about more than identifying the busiest sales month. As Harrison puts it, “When do you need to bring your inventory in to service that holiday peak, or is it a summer peak because you sell swimsuits or whatever it might be?” The question is simple, but it changes the conversation. If November is your busiest month, what needs to happen in October? And what needed to happen before that? Where Is Your Inventory Right Now? By October, brands should have more than a holiday sales forecast. They should have a clear picture of the inventory expected to support it. That means understanding what has already arrived, what is still on the way, and whether any incoming products could create pressure as holiday activity increases. This is where averages can become misleading. A brand might know its typical monthly inventory or order volume, but peak rarely behaves like a typical month. Harrison emphasizes the importance of looking deeper into the patterns behind the numbers. “It’s looking at yearly trends, looking at within the year, what does that look like? Do you have those peaks?” For holiday planning, those peaks can happen on both sides of the warehouse. Orders may increase just as large amounts of inventory arrive. Suddenly, the operation is balancing receiving, storage, picking, packing, and shipping during the same critical stretch. Visibility helps everyone understand what is coming before the building gets busy. Give Your 3PL the Full Picture Your 3PL cannot prepare for information it does not have. If a large inventory shipment has moved later than originally expected, communicate it. If a promotion is likely to concentrate demand around certain products, share that information. If this year's assortment or sales strategy looks substantially different from last year's, make sure your fulfillment team knows that too. Harrison describes himself as a “data nerd,” and his approach is rooted in understanding as much of the business as possible. “When I work with brands, I wanna understand everything about the business.” That does not mean brands need to predict every holiday order perfectly. Forecasts change. Promotions surprise people. Products sell differently than expected. The goal is not perfect foresight. It is giving the people responsible for fulfillment enough information to make thoughtful decisions as conditions change. At Barrett, those conversations help our teams understand the rhythm behind a customer's business rather than viewing peak as one large number on a forecast. October Is a Good Time to Ask Better Questions Instead of asking only whether your 3PL is ready for holiday volume, October is a good time to look more closely at the inventory supporting that volume. What has arrived? What is still coming? Are there products tied to major promotions? Has anything changed since the original forecast? Are there unusual inbound shipments your fulfillment team should know about? Those conversations may not be the most exciting part of holiday planning, especially compared with campaigns, product launches, and sales goals. Still, they help create the conditions for all of those plans to work. Because by the time a customer clicks buy , a surprising amount of the work behind that order should already be finished. Your holiday inventory should not simply be on its way. You should know where it is, when it is arriving, and what happens next. Looking for a 3PL that takes the time to understand your business? Tell us where you are today, where you want to go, and what you need from your fulfillment partner. Start a conversation with Barrett Distribution Centers.