The Christmas rush is fast approaching, and retails brands must begin to prepare early to ensure they can fly through the Christmas period with no complications. A key factor to the success of your company is the organisation of your stock room. You want your stockroom to run as smoothly and efficiently as possible, with stock being organised as easy to find.
It is so important your stock room is organised to ensure that your stock can be found safely and easily from staff members. This blog post is going to explain the best ways to prepare your stock room for the winter rush…
Place Popular Stock Near Front
The Christmas rush may feel extremely stressful for staff, so you want to make it as easy as possible for them to find items for customers. Placing your most popular stock at the front of the stock room can help reduce time and means staff members can quickly grab these items and head back to shop floor.
If a staff member has to spend large amounts of time in the stockroom looking for items, it may eat into valuable time and potential sales.
Utilise Vertical Space
Try not to limit any floor space and really utilise the high ceilings in your stock room. This can be done easily with the right industrial racking or shelving and is the perfect solution to not taking up too much floor space. Using shelving and racking can also make it easier and safer for staff members to navigate their way around the stock room, as there will be so much more floor space.
You should also consider using stackable containers, boxes or bins to help save more floor space (bear in mind this may not be useful if you have extremely heavy stock).
Provide Good Lighting
This step may be easy to forget but it is KEY your stock room is well-lit to ensure your staff members find it as easy as possible to navigate their way around it. Having a well-lit stock room is much safer for staff members too and will avoid more injuries, as they will be able to see where they’re going.
Have a System in Place (with labels)
A highly functional stockroom should have a set system in place for staff members. Whether this be a one-way foot flow, items being separated (for colour, size etc), or clear labels around the stockroom. Staff members should know exactly where items are kept and what the safest way to reach them is, to ensure they can find items in the easiest and safest way.
Each section should be clearly labelled, whether it be large signage around the stock room or colour coordinated boxes. This will make the stock room look organised and help productivity on your busiest days.
Conduct Training
Your staff members should have thorough training of exactly how to navigate the stock room. There should be safety measures put in place to ensure that both your staff members and stock are kept as safe as possible. You should also do regular audits to see if there are any ways to improve the functions of the stockroom.
Invest in Industrial Shelving
Your stockroom should not be neglected as it will be the backbone of the store running smoothly. By having strong, reliable shelving in your stock room, you can ensure that stock is stored away neatly and in order, making it so easy for staff to navigate stock and be aware of what is in stock and out of stock.
Here at Rhino, we provide boltless storage systems for retail stores, and these come in both MDF form or wire shelving. Both look amazing in retail stores and can organise your stock accordingly. Our shelving can hold 1000kg per unit, therefore there is no need to worry about storing away your heavier items, as our shelving can do this safely. We have a range of slimline, wide and extra-deep shelving, meaning no matter how big or small your stockroom (or stock is), we have the perfect units to help you get organised in time for the Christmas rush.