Adapting WMS to cope with D2C business

Smarter businesses are moving away from a reliance on selling through third-party retailers. The financial and brand benefits of the D2C model can be substantial, yet it may require a dramatic retooling of operational expertise and efficiencies.

As website software improves its capability to integrate directly to WMS functionality, more and more companies are eliminating the profit-reducing stages of using a retailer and setting themselves up in a way that facilitates supply direct to customers.

Intralogistics needs to be carefully managed in the D2C model as it’s all about efficiently picking the stock for a higher volume of smaller orders for the ever-decreasing time spans for next day deliveries. A highly configurable WMS is a must therefore, because the competing demands of efficient storage versus variable order pools is no longer a wave planned task.

Rather, it’s about perfecting the flow. A best-of-breed WMS will optimise operations and staff by controlling every development on handheld devices in prioritising sequence. It will juggle and interweave movements, order pick optimisation, route optimisation and carrier pick-up cut-off times to get the most efficient use of precious resource – typically delivering savings of around 20% in most areas.

Understanding the importance of materials handling at a more granular level is also vital, as companies moving to a D2C model need the right software to provide much more data quality, resources allocation and process flow. This in turn enables simultaneous order picking for further efficiencies, along with the segregation of single-item orders – since the latter can be picked into a particular tote, cage pallet or trolley. Multiple item orders are key too and quite often the solution is a segmented pick trolley. 

Within SnapFulfil solutions, each order’s quantity is directed into its allotted compartment during the pick itself – and where multiple compartments are in use each deposit is confirmed by a tote scan to avoid errors. The trolley or cage then moves to the pre-packing area and a carrier label is automatically printed where required, which drastically reduces the time required to match up picked stock with customer orders.

Additionally, the role of automatic storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) has grown hugely in recent years because functionality that is controlled by the WMS automatically places and retrieves stock quickly and easily, which ensures the right product is in the correct place. This enables efficient storage solutions in a better organised warehouse and can also help to reduce labour costs, since picking roles can be freed up and resources allocated to more productive functions. 

Carton or tote-sized ASRS systems can be ideal for storing large volumes of small or similar products in high density, but this must be balanced carefully with the product mix, otherwise it can become inefficient – so carefully consider the put away and re-travel time.

Control via a fully integrated and advanced WMS is crucial, because the cost of such ASRS systems can be high and fit-for-purpose software needs to bring it all together. The return on investment is fantastic in terms of staff and space saving, but getting it wrong can be an expensive mistake. It must be able to react accordingly to customer and business change.