Preparing Your Warehouse for Fall Season Inventory

Fall is upon us. Your warehouse is full of product that didn’t move due to the pandemic. The holidays are looming. What’s the most efficient way to organize and store both your aging and new inventory?

The inventory “shuffle” is a fear no warehouse manager wants to confront. Face up to it now, though, because once holiday shipping begins, you’ll be shuffling so much your shoes will smoke. Depending on the products you store and the current and anticipated quantities, you have a number of solutions for consideration.

1. Ask your client or marketing/sales team to promote the aging inventory with special sales or deals that will move the inventory out quickly, like a FLASH sale. That inventory is likely costing more people more money just sitting there than it would cost to do a FLASH sale to move it out.
2. If you can’t move the inventory immediately, decide when you will move it. Do you need access to it during the holiday season, or will it be packed up with the seasonal merchandise, only to emerge next spring? If it can be stored over the holidays, move it to a standard palette rack.  Teardrop racks are easy to assemble and easy to expand, if necessary. If you already have a teardrop rack, you can easily add to it using a variety of available accessories.
3. Close the floor to the “Inventory Shuffle.” If you want access to both the aging inventory and the incoming inventory, prepare your space before the first shipment. You can customize the rack system configuration by consulting with a member of our warehouse design team.
4. Our consultants would choose either selective palette racks, which provide access to product from three sides, or push-back palette racking systems, which implement the first-in, last-out method of storage. With a selective system, inventory can be picked manually from two or three sides simultaneously, or it can be taken mechanically from any one of the sides.  In addition, two forklifts can work at the same palette rack at the same time. This gives you the option of storing both slower-moving inventory and hot sellers on the same rack. Push-back palette racking systems literally push the inventory out. If you incorporate the push-back system, you can load the rack with the aging inventory before the holiday inventory arrives. This way, if the aging inventory is static until next year, you have used your space wisely while having access to both old and new product.
5. Don’t wait weeks for a new palette rack. Get it immediately with Everything Warehouse’s quick delivery program. We have these racks in stock and can ship them to you within 24-hours. Even better, we will assemble them properly and advise you on the most efficient way to configure your warehouse with the new addition.