Back To School Rush Starts Now
As the weather is getting warmer and the days longer, everybody starts the countdown to the summer holiday. For businesses, summer is typically a period of reduced activities, as it is marked by the absence of staff. Over the course of the summer holiday, which in Europe is punctuated by the end of the school year, most employees tend to take a couple of weeks off, typically in July or in August. For businesses whose services are not related to the summer vacation, the next peak of activities comes around September, as schools reopen.
The renowned back to school rush is highly stressful, not only for kids who are not always ready to head back to the classroom, but also for companies that need to face the sudden peak in demands ahead of the last activity quarter of the year. For new businesses, the rush after the summer holiday can often be overlooked for the benefits of traditional seasonal events such as Easter or Christmas. However, failing to prepare can throw you off balance and has lasting consequences for the company.
Ensuring the warehouse is market demand
Retailers can’t afford to ignore the back to school pressure. It’s in their best interests to take all the necessary measures to tackle needs within the warehouse. There is no denying that the month of September is going to feel hectic if you fail to build a dedicated team – working with specialists staffing agencies such as Pure Staff – to address the demands. If you’re worried about training new staff to your warehouse policies and strategies on time, the summer break gives you the ideal opportunity to start the training. Additionally, it can be helpful to enhance your packaging solutions ahead of the rush. You need packaging that is not only easy to handle for your team – they can’t afford to waste time – but also easy to store. Indeed, organised warehouses are more likely to store large volumes effectively.
One question: Can your site cope?
A rush doesn’t only affect your storage and packing sectors. It also affects your website as it needs to sustain a large volume of visitors over a short period. Small businesses are the first to go down when they experience a peak in traffic. Ultimately, if you’re not equipped to handle the volume, your site will underperform and display a server error message. But, while upgrading your server solution might not be a sustainable investment for a limited budget, there are affordable options with virtual servers. Indeed, a virtual server lets your website manage varying volumes of traffic by scaling up or down on demand.
Softening the rush through information
Lastly, it can be helpful to keep your audience group in the loop from an early stage. Informing existing customers about future products can help to spread the volume of demands over a longer period of time. A pre-order newsletter can encourage customers to buy early, for instance, which allows you to plan better.
The back to school rush can be one of the most underestimated business phenomena for new companies. Unlike seasonal rush, it never occurs at a fixed date across Europe; as a result, the pressure can be draining for small businesses. Preparation and strategic planning are necessary to keep your company afloat!