The final stretch of 2024 has begun—a festive but also hectic period. This season often brings added logistics challenges and stress, which is the last thing you need right now.

Our wish for you is to keep full control of your warehouse—even during peak season. That’s why we’ve put together tips below to help you prepare your warehouse, so you can enjoy this time, too!

Prepare Your Warehouse for Peak Season

✓ Clear Instructions

Let your team know in advance what you expect from them and any extra things to keep an eye on. Are there (temporary) changes in the warehouse? Are packages being gift-wrapped? What’s the protocol if something goes wrong? Write down the instructions, discuss them together, and post them in the warehouse for everyone to refer back to.

✓ Assigning Roles

Set up a clear task division: who does what, and who can you turn to for help? The clearer and more specific each task is, the more independently people can work—especially those helping temporarily. Share the task breakdown with everyone, so the team knows they can rely on each other.

✓ Training Extra Help

Are marketing colleagues, family members, or friends coming to help? Explain how the warehouse operates beforehand and hang up a map in a central spot. It’s also helpful to mark locations clearly, like with A4 sheets, so they can quickly find their way around.

Will they be using Picqer? It’s a good idea to start with a test order, so they can jump in confidently. Don’t forget to share login details or set up accounts for these people in advance.

✓ Packing Station Check

Check each packing station. Is all hardware working properly? Are the tools in place? Do any devices need charging? Are label printer rolls stocked? Do you have enough paper and ink? Is there ample packing material, and can it be easily refilled? If needed, set up additional temporary packing stations to ensure everyone has enough workspace.

✓ Order Inventory on Time

Expect longer delivery times from suppliers than usual. Make sure to have enough stock on hand, including packaging materials.

✓ Sync Inventory in Picqer

During peak times, you’ll likely see more orders than usual. This makes it extra important to keep stock levels synced between your online store and Picqer. If you anticipate a rush, like with a flash sale, check here how to set up Picqer. Need assistance? Contact us anytime.

✓ Backup Shipping Provider

Shipping carriers are also extremely busy this time of year. Arrange a backup provider so you can ship with multiple carriers. Be mindful of any special shipping rates as well.

✓ Best Sellers Near Packing Stations

Reduce walking time for pickers by placing best sellers and discounted items near the packing stations. Don’t forget to update their locations in Picqer if you relocate them.

✓ Work Ahead

Prepare as many tasks as you can in advance, such as folding boxes or writing cards. If you expect high volume for a specific product, pre-pack a stock of that item in shipping boxes, so later, you just need to apply shipping labels. Tip: Bulk processing a singles batch in Picqer.

✓ Ensure Ample Walking Space

With more people in the warehouse than usual, keep pathways clear and ensure enough room for everyone to move around without getting in each other’s way.

✓ Spread Out Promotions

When you spread out promotions over several days, orders come in more gradually, allowing you to process them with ease and improving the chance of on-time delivery.

✓ Temporarily Adjust Customer Promises

If you can’t meet promises on your webshop, like “Order today, delivered tomorrow,” consider adjusting them temporarily or communicating this to customers. It helps avoid disappointments.

✓ Set Priorities

Some tasks can wait, like processing a return or an incoming order. Tackle these in bulk a few days later.

✓ “What if?” Scenarios

Prepare solutions for potential problems. What if the internet goes down? We have a 4G mobile router. What if the printer fails? The backup printer is here. What if a carrier has a delay? We can switch to another carrier. What if…? Solved!

✓ Keep the Warehouse Tidy

To work efficiently throughout the day, it’s essential to keep the warehouse clean and organized, including packing stations so that packages leave in good condition. Place waste bins and keep all cleaning supplies in one spot.

✓ Make It Fun Together!

A positive atmosphere during a busy season makes a big difference. Communicate well with each other, treat the team to a snack during lunch, play some music, and enjoy working together!

What Are Busy Days?

Below is a list of the 10 busiest days in Picqer from last year (2023) to give you an idea for the coming season.

1. Black Friday 11-24-2023
2. Cyber Monday 11-27-2023
3. Sunday after Black Friday 11-26-2023
4. Week before Christmas 12-18-2023
5. Week before Black Friday 11-20-2023
6. Day before Black Friday 11-23-2023
7. Two weeks before Christmas 12-11-2023
8. Saturday after Black Friday 11-25-2023
9. Week before Christmas 12-19-2023
10. Week before Black Friday 11-22-2023

You Can Count on Us!

Besides these tips, you can rely on us during the busy season:

• Before Black Friday, we double-check for any performance issues in Picqer.
• We don’t make major changes in Picqer that require adjustment.
• On busy days, we closely monitor our servers.
• Our Support Team is ready via email, for urgent matters, or visit our Help Center.

Your delivery promise is everything. As a warehouse manager, you want to know how things stand at a glance. That's why we’re introducing the Warehouse Dashboard on web and mobile. This dashboard answers three key questions:

1. Are we going to meet the deadline? (Open picklists)
   The red line shows the number of open picklists throughout the day. Are orders being picked faster than new picklists are being added? The blue bars show the incoming lists, the gray line shows the average from last week. This way, you know if you’re on track for the deadline (cut-off) and what to expect in terms of workload.
2. How productive are we? (Processed picklists)
   This shows how many picklists have been processed today. Useful for monitoring productivity. Can we step it up, or should we ask for help?
3. Is anything left behind? (Age of open picklists)
   Here you can see how long picklists have been open. This way, you’ll quickly spot if anything’s delayed and gain a better sense of the time needed to process a picklist.

From now on, you'll start start your day with coffee and the Warehouse Dashboard. Upon arrival, you’ll immediately see what’s still open from yesterday, how much came in overnight, and what to expect for the rest of the day. Throughout the day, you can check the status as needed and adjust accordingly. This way, you keep your delivery promise without hassle.

To keep everyone informed on how things stand, all users can view the Warehouse Dashboardon web and mobile. After all, running a successful warehouse is a team effort.

We’re curious to hear your thoughts on the Warehouse Dashboard. Let us know!

Budbee is a parcel delivery service with an extensive network of parcel lockers and home deliveries in the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. You can print Budbee shipping labels directly from Picqer.

About Budbee

Budbee is a technology company based in Sweden with the mission to make online shopping easier.

Budbee is committed to shipping and returns in the most sustainable way possible, using electric vehicles and renewable diesel.

In the Netherlands and Belgium, packages are delivered to Budbee Boxes (parcel lockers). In Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, Budbee delivers to both parcel lockers and homes.

Budbee picks up the packages from your warehouse. The packages are delivered the same day or the next day between 5 PM and 10 PM.

Integrating Budbee with Picqer

With this integration, you can create Budbee shipping labels for parcel lockers or home delivery directly from Picqer.

First, register as a customer with Budbee, then add Budbee as a new parcel service in Picqer. Set up the shipping profiles and create a test order to check if the integration was successful.

Manual

Pausing

Earlier this month, we introduced Pausing. Can’t proceed with an order or picklist? Then you pause it. We take the order out of your normal workflow until you or your colleague has solved the problem. Learn more

Other improvements

• When processing a return, we now try to use a bulk location if no pick location is known for a product. This prevents products from being unnecessarily booked to ‘no specific location’.
• When processing multiple returns at once, we now clearly indicate which products you cannot receive because they are inactive. You can easily view and adjust these products to receive them anyway.
• The login and password change pages now work better with browsers and password managers. This makes logging in easier, but just as secure.
• When using two factor authentication, we now ask for a new code on the logged-in device every 4 weeks, instead of weekly.
• You can now choose to make order fields accessible only via the API. This is useful when a field is not relevant for employees but is used to automate processes, for example.
• In the app, we now show an icon for items with a comment in all overviews. Product remarks from the web shop are now also visible on pick lists in the app.
• Fulfillment customers can now adjust the customer’s email address and phone number on an order in the fulfillment portal. Changes are visible in the order log. Fulfillment customers can now also adjust the customs information for a product themselves.
• In the ‘Receipts processed’ report, we now always show the supplier name.
• In the ‘Today’ report, we now sort purchase orders by the number of products received.
• When using the PostNL Magento 2 plugin, we now ensure that all delivery information is available as order fields. You can use these fields with rules to select the correct shipping profile in Picqer, for example.
• When there are issues creating a MyParcel shipment, we now provide more explanation with the error message if available.

In addition, we’ve fixed the following issues:

• When creating an order on the new order page, products were sometimes unintentionally added when changing the quantity. The set template for the customer was also not applied, and the price was not correctly imported when importing products.
• When removing products from a pick list, too many products could be removed.
• In the overview of snoozed pick lists, the same pick list was sometimes shown on multiple pages.
• For certain PostNL shipments to Spain and Portugal with product code 6972, 6350, 6550, or 6942, automatically printing the label caused issues. We’ve solved this by not printing automatically. You can now manually print the PDF label after creating the shipment.

Meet our new colleagues! Jamie and Stef have both joined the Support team. They’re excited to introduce themselves:

Jamie Offermans

Hi, I'm Jamie! Since mid-July, I've been working at Picqer as a Customer Success Manager. I live in Maastricht with my husband and our 1-year-old son.

I love enjoying good food, having long dinners, and cooking special dishes. But right now, my culinary masterpieces mostly consist of vegetable purées for my little one. I also enjoy spending time with family and friends—just soaking up the good vibes.

For the past 15 years, I’ve worked in various customer-facing roles, including support, sales, and customer success. I've helped shape customer success departments for logistics and accountancy-focused start-ups in Belgium and the Netherlands.

In my work, I'm process-oriented, and I enjoy the challenge of figuring out the most efficient ways to get things done. The common thread in both my work and personal life is 'people'. Whether it's colleagues, partners, or customers, I believe in providing great support and always being there for others. That’s what gives me energy.

Picqer has a very clear vision and does things a bit differently than other companies. Even though our team works entirely remotely, we are very engaged and always ready to help each other out. That sense of teamwork is what attracted me to Picqer.

Together with my wonderful colleagues, I look forward to ensuring that customers can make the most of Picqer and have a great experience working with us.

Stef van Hezik

Hi! My name is Stef, and I started at Picqer on September 16th as a Support Specialist. I live in Arnhem with my girlfriend and two cats.

When I'm not busy with home improvement projects, I enjoy strength training, going to concerts, or playing board and video games. I also love photography during vacations and special occasions.

For the past 8 years, I worked at DHL, helping customers navigate the business customer portal and DHL integrations (including those for Picqer).

I supported customers remotely and on-site, assisting with integration setups and providing demos of the business portal and integrations. For the last two years, I was co-responsible for developing these integrations and the business portal at DHL.

I often worked with customers who used Picqer. Their feedback was always positive, and I had great experiences when I reached out to Picqer myself. Picqer is an impressive product that truly helps its users. And if it's not the right fit for someone, Picqer is upfront about it, which I really appreciate.

Right now, I’m focusing on learning as much as I can about Picqer and warehouse processes. By really understanding the needs of our customers, we can take that extra step and make the right decisions together. With the experience I bring from my time at DHL, I hope to quickly become an active part of the team, providing even better support to our customers!

I’m looking forward to my first customer visit, to get to know you better and see firsthand how Picqer works in different warehouses!