What is FIFO and FEFO? The Ultimate Guide for Supplement Brands

What is FIFO and FEFO? The Ultimate Guide for Supplement Brands

Choosing the best inventory management and fulfillment strategy is crucial for any company looking to cut costs, improve customer satisfaction, and increase growth. Supplement brands, with their shelf-life-sensitive products, need to be particularly cautious about choosing the right inventory process. 

In this industry, FIFO and FEFO inventory management methods are often particularly popular, as they can help to ensure products stay fresh and compliant with regulations, improve customer satisfaction levels, and protect your brand’s reputation. 

Both FIFO (First-In-First-Out) and FEFO (First-Expired-First-Out) inventory rotation methods for supplements can help you make the most of products with limited shelf lives. In this guide, we’ll introduce you to methods of reducing supplement waste with FIFO and FEFO. We’ll also help you choose the right option for your business, and show you how to align your inventory management and fulfillment strategies successfully, for ongoing sustainable growth.

Defining FIFO and FEFO

Unsure about the differences between first-in-first-out vs. first-expired-first-out inventory management strategies? Both of these options are popular among supplement companies, as well as countless brands dealing with limited-shelf-life goods. 

Both systems aim to minimize waste, improve product freshness, and help companies stay compliant with industry regulations. However, each method has its own unique approach to managing inventory.

FIFO (First-In-First-Out)

The FIFO, or First-In-First-Out strategy for inventory management works by ensuring that the oldest inventory in your warehouse is the first to be shipped to customers. 

Implementing FIFO in supplement warehousing processes means tracking the dates when products are first purchased or stored by your company. This means you can ensure the products that have spent the longest time in your warehouse, are the first to leave when you make a sale. 

This system reduces the risk of stock sitting too long on shelves, ensuring that customers receive fresher products. For example, if a batch of vitamins arrives in the warehouse in January, FIFO ensures those are shipped first, even if newer stock arrives in February. This helps prevent expired or stale products from reaching customers, reducing waste and keeping customer satisfaction high.

FEFO (First-Expired-First-Out)

FEFO, or the “First-Expired-First-Out” strategy, on the other hand, prioritizes shipping products based on their expiration date. The FEFO strategy for perishable supplements is often a good way to minimize the risk of companies ending up with products sitting in their warehouses that they can no longer safely sell to their customers. 

Unlike FIFO, FEFO doesn’t take the time a product arrives in your warehouse into account – just the date when that product is going to expire. This can be valuable for some supplement companies, as the products you source from manufacturers may have varying expiration dates. 

With FEFO, even if you received a bottle of vitamins in January from one manufacturer, but a product received in February from a different manufacturer has a closer expiry date, you’d ship the one you received in February first.

Benefits of FIFO and FEFO for Supplement Brands

Both FIFO and FEFO inventory management are excellent options for supplement brands, who need to maintain careful control over products with limited shelf lives. Adopting these inventory control techniques can help supplement brands access benefits like:

Waste Reduction

The FIFO and FEFO inventory control techniques for supplement brands help minimize waste by ensuring that products are shipped out before they expire, allowing them to be used at their peak quality. With FIFO, older stock is prioritized, preventing products from sitting too long on shelves and potentially becoming unsellable. FEFO goes a step further by focusing on expiration dates, making sure that products closest to expiring are shipped first, even if they are newer.

By reducing the amount of expired or unsellable inventory you have sitting in your warehouse, these inventory management methods can save your company a lot of money. Not only will you have fewer inventory “losses”, but you could end up spending less on disposal costs too.

Fresher Products

Freshness is important in the supplement industry. Over time, supplements lose their potency, meaning the results they’ll deliver to your customers will be diminished. Using either FIFO or FEFO ensures that products reach customers at their freshest – long before they reach an expiry date.

This prioritization of freshness not only supports brand integrity but also guarantees that customers receive supplements with the highest quality and potency. Freshness enhances customer satisfaction, which is crucial if you want your buyers to keep coming back to your business.

Improved Compliance

FIFO and FEFO aren’t just practical tools for improving inventory management and customer satisfaction levels. They’re also critical for compliance. The supplement industry is exposed to a huge range of regulations and rules, intended to protect the health and wellbeing of consumers. To avoid serious fines and legal repercussions, companies need to ensure they’re not shipping products to customers that could be deemed unsafe or unfit for consumption.

FIFO and FEFO strategies help to enhance compliance through effective inventory management, by helping you to keep track of product expiration dates and shelf lives. They can reduce your risk of sending dangerous products to consumers, and dealing with unwanted legal issues.

Greater Customer Trust

Trust is the foundation of success for any supplement brand. After all, your customers need to trust you with their wellbeing and quality of life. They want to see evidence that you’re not only committed to giving them high-quality products, but that you’re following best practices for supplement inventory turnover, to ensure the products they receive are fresh and potent.

Implementing FIFO and FEFO inventory management strategies help to ensure product quality and reliability, meaning your offerings will constantly live up to customer expectations. These strategies can help you earn the long-term loyalty of your customers, turn buyers into advocates for your brand, and increase your overall profits and sales.

How to Choose Between FIFO and FEFO

Choosing the right inventory method for supplements can be tricky, particularly when both FIFO and FEFO have advantages to offer. Ultimately, the right choice for your company will depend on a few key factors, starting with the types of products you’re going to be selling.

If you’re offering customers less “perishable” products, like protein powders or capsules with a longer shelf life, FIFO often makes more sense. This method ensures older stock sells first without overcomplicating processes. But if you’re dealing with probiotics, liquid vitamins, or other expiration-sensitive products, FEFO is the smarter move. It prioritizes freshness and ensures products stay compliant with regulatory standards, protecting both your brand and customers.

Your brand priorities can come into play when making the right decision too. If cost efficiency and streamlined operations are your focus, FIFO can help reduce handling time and simplify logistics. But if minimizing waste and delivering the freshest products are your top priorities, FEFO takes the lead.

Notably, you don’t always have to use one method or the other exclusively either. For some supplement companies, the best approach may be to combine the best of both worlds. For instance, if you sell a wide range of products, you might use FIFO to manage more durable goods, and FEFO for items with stricter expiration dates. 

Working with a reputable fulfillment company, like Relentless Fulfillment, will allow you to use a combination of FIFO and FEFO inventory management methods easily, depending on your specific goals and product portfolio, without the need for additional complexity.

How to Implement FIFO and FEFO in Fulfillment

FIFO and FEFO are both excellent strategies for shelf life management in supplement industry businesses. However, to really make the most of these methodologies, you need to make sure they’re fully integrated into your entire fulfillment strategy. 

Here are the steps you’ll need to take for a successful approach.

Start with Inventory Organization

First, start with the basics. Arrange your inventory in a way that makes implementing FIFO and FEFO processes simple. For FIFO, products need to be stored in the order they arrive. Position older stock at the front and new inventory behind it. This way, warehouse teams naturally pick the oldest items first during order fulfillment.

For FEFO, monitoring expiration dates is crucial. Use your warehouse management system (WMS) technology to keep track of and organize items based on when they’re going to expire. Group products with similar expiry ranges together to avoid confusion, and make sure all of your products have clear labels attached to them. 

At Relentless Fulfillment, our WMS technology supports lot control, making it easy to track inventory by arrival date for FIFO, or expiration date for FEFO. That way, you can create a streamlined strategy for managing and making the most out of your inventory.

Implement the Right Technology

Technology is a valuable resource in FIFO and FEFO inventory management. Warehouse Management Systems and tools are critical for keeping a close eye on all of your products, their arrival dates, and expiry dates from one unified environment. They also help you to track stock levels and inventory movement in real time. 

Based on the strategy you’re using; take advantage of the various features your inventory management and WMS tools can offer. Set up automated alerts for approaching expiration dates on products to support FEFO. Make sure you can instantly track the dates when you receive products from manufacturers to guide your FIFO decisions. 

Use reporting and analytical tools built into your software to track adherence to your inventory management strategies and make sure nothing is slipping through the cracks. Based on your insights, you might even decide to switch from a FIFO method to a FEFO method, or combine the two strategies to further reduce waste.

Work with the Right Fulfillment Partner

Reducing supplement waste with FIFO and FEFO, and making the most out of your new inventory management strategy, is much easier with the right fulfillment partner. A reputable fulfillment partner, like Relentless, will use their experience and expertise in FIFO and FEFO practices to help you optimize your return on investment. 

Relentless can give you access to the innovative tools you need to use the best inventory control techniques for supplement brands, and help you keep a close eye on stock movement. Plus, they’ll ensure you can accelerate the delivery of products to your customers, increasing satisfaction rates and ensure long-term customer loyalty. A partner like Relentless Fulfillment can even give you expert guidance on how to organize warehouse layouts, label products effectively, and ensure inventory rotation happens smoothly. Plus, we can assist you with bundling and kitting techniques that could help you to move inventory sitting on shelves faster, reducing the risk of waste.

Discover the Benefits of FIFO and FEFO Strategies

In a fast-paced industry like the supplement sector, where products can quickly lose their value and potency, few things are more important than the right approach to inventory rotation. FIFO and FEFO inventory management strategies can give you an excellent way to maintain product quality, earn customer trust, preserve your reputation, and avoid compliance issues.

With these strategies, you can reduce waste, deliver fresher products to your customers consistently, and keep losses to a minimum. All you really need to make the most out of these techniques is a personalized strategy, the right technology, and a reputable fulfillment partner to work with.

Relentless Fulfillment can give you all of the resources, technology, and expertise you need to make the most of your FIFO and FEFO strategies. With our advanced WMS technologies, bundling and kitting services, and ultra-fast delivery times, we’ll help you stay one step ahead of the competition.

Contact us today to learn how we can help you unlock the benefits of FIFO and FEFO inventory management, and earn long-term customer loyalty.

Common Fulfillment Challenges for Supplement Brands and How to Overcome Them

Common Fulfillment Challenges for Supplement Brands and How to Overcome Them

The supplement industry is booming, with industry reports suggesting the market is currently growing at a CAGR of 9.1%. But thriving in this market is far from easy. If you want to earn sales, separate yourself from the competition and earn loyal customers, you need more than just great products. You need an optimized supplement fulfilment strategy.

Mastering everything from inventory management for supplements, to ensuring products reach your customers in time (and in great condition), can be complicated. You’ll need to navigate strict regulatory requirements, use the right strategies to get the most out of products with limited shelf lives, and overcome common delivery hurdles.

Getting fulfillment right isn’t just a logistic hurdle, it’s the key to maintaining product integrity, staying compliant with local and federal regulations, and earning customer trust. 

The good news? There are ways to boost your chances of success. Here, we’ll introduce you to the most common supplement fulfillment challenges you might encounter as you grow your business, and the strategies you can use to overcome them.

Challenge 1: Inventory Management

Handling inventory management for supplements is complicated for a few reasons. Get your inventory strategy right, and your business can run like a well-oiled machine, with minimal waste, and better efficiency all around. Get it wrong, and you risk wasting money on overstocking processes, and missing opportunities with stock outs.

Overstocking ties up crucial cash flow, takes up precious warehouse space, and increases your chances of ending up with expired products sitting on warehouse shelves. Understocking means you risk losing sales and frustrating your customers. 

To make matters worse, lack of proper planning could mean you miss out on crucial opportunities. When demand for your products spikes at specific times of the year (think around New Year’s when people are setting resolutions, or in the summer when people want to get beach ready), you need to be prepared to accommodate higher sales numbers.

The Solution: 

The first step in overcoming inventory issues, and managing seasonal demand for supplements, is gaining more visibility into your products. You need to go beyond simply knowing what’s on your shelves with a strategy that gives you real-time visibility into your stock. 

Taking advantage of inventory tracking technology can be extremely helpful here. A fulfillment partner like Relentless Fulfillment can give you a comprehensive insight into your products, and stock levels in real-time. You can track products that are set to expire soonest, monitor which items are earning the most sales (so you know what to stock up on), and more.

Our technology doesn’t just help supplement brands keep track of their inventory, it ensures they can optimize their stock strategy. Through advanced forecasting tools, like aging reports and order volume reports specific to each SKU, we give you the data you need to predict demand and make smarter stocking decisions. 

With our systems, you can stay on top of trends, adjust for seasonal fluctuations, and even plan for peak times like New Year’s fitness resolutions or Black Friday sales. This data-driven approach will help you make the most out of your inventory, increase sales, and reduce waste.

Challenge 2: Regulatory Compliance

Regulatory compliance in the supplement industry can be something of a minefield to navigate. The industry is tightly regulated, and failing to comply with even the smallest detail can have devastating consequences. As a supplement brand, you need to go beyond simply using safe products in your formula. You’ll need to ensure you’re implementing quality control in supplement logistics, labelling products correctly, and managing expiration dates. 

The FDA, FTC, and other regulatory bodies have strict guidelines that must be adhered to, and non-compliance can lead to fines, recalls, and ongoing damage to your brand’s reputation. Something as simple as making a mistake on a label, or allowing expired goods to slip through the cracks can quickly derail your business. 

That’s why you need to ensure you’re following end-to-end supplement fulfillment best practices that help to keep you compliant with industry standards.

The Solutions

Adhering to compliance standards in the supplement industry requires a multi-faceted and holistic approach. Fortunately, working with the right fulfillment partner can make all the difference. At Relentless Fulfillment, we prioritize quality control in supplement logistics, implementing strict processes to help you stay one step ahead of the curve. 

From lot tracking tools to insights that help you to monitor which products might be approaching their expiration dates, we help you ensure your products meet regulatory guidelines every step of the way. We can even help you implement bundling and kitting strategies that help to get products out of warehouses faster, reducing the risk of waste due to expiration.

Beyond working with the right fulfillment provider, there are other steps you can take to minimize your risk of compliance issues. For instance, making sure all of your products are properly labelled (according to regulatory requirements), with ingredient lists, and nutrition facts are crucial. 

Ensuring you have the right processes in place to minimize the handling of products, and track expiration dates as they emerge is essential too. With an end-to-end strategy for keeping track of your products effectively, and a partner that can help you avoid compliance mistakes, you can avoid costly fines, and protect your brand’s reputation.

Challenge 3: Maintaining Product Integrity and Safety

Maintaining product integrity in supplement fulfillment processes is crucial, but complicated. Many supplements, including probiotics and vitamins, are temperature-sensitive, and fragile. They can lose their potency or efficacy if they’re exposed to the wrong conditions, like excessive heat or humidity.

Some products, like soft gels or glass containers, can also break or degrade during transit and storage when they’re not handled with care and precision. As a supplement brand, you can’t rely on the same strategies other companies use to manage storing and shipping. 

You need a comprehensive strategy that leverages specialized temperature-sensitive supplement shipping solutions, and tailor-made storage conditions. Without the right strategy, the quality of your products, and your brand’s reputation could be irreparably damaged.

The Solutions:

Ensuring product integrity in supplement fulfillment relies heavily on finding the right partners to work with. Companies that specialize in third-party logistics for supplements brands can give you the critical storage solutions, packaging systems, and resources you need to protect your products. 

At Relentless Fulfillment, for instance, we treat every product as though it’s our own, using state-of-the-art climate controlled storage facilities to ensure that temperature-sensitive items are defended from temperature fluctuations. Whether you’re selling heat-sensitive vitamins, or probiotics that depend on cold storage, we can help. 

When it comes to packaging your products, we don’t just pack items into a box at random. We offer custom packaging solutions designed to safeguard product quality. This means giving you access to insulated packaging for temperature-sensitive items and cushioning for fragile products.

Plus, we provide expedited shipping options, to help ensure your products arrive at their destination quickly, before they have a chance to deteriorate in transit. Working with a professional fulfillment partner with years of experience dealing with sensitive products like supplements ensures you can guarantee all of your products will be handled with care.

From storage to shipping, the right partner will guarantee that your products stay protected, and in peak condition, defending your assets, reputation, and relationship with customers.

Challenge 4: Fast and Reliable Shipping

Today’s customers have a serious need for speed. When they buy products from your company, they expect to receive them quickly, when they want it most. This makes fast shipping for supplement brands essential. If you’re not delivering items to customers quickly, they’ll find an alternative provider who can serve their needs sooner. 

Unfortunately, there are a number of issues that can get in the way of quick delivery times. Not only do you have to deal with overcoming supplement supply chain issues, but you need to navigate various logistical issues and regulatory requirements. 

Prioritizing speed, while still ensuring that products are protected, packaged correctly, and handled with care at every stage of the logistical process requires a strategic approach.

The Solutions:

Again, the answer to this supplement fulfillment issue is: find the right partner. The easiest way to make sure your products consistently reach your customers as quickly as possible, without compromising on package protection, is to work with the right fulfillment providers. 

Focus on finding companies that offer fulfillment centers located close to key market points. For instance, Relentless Fulfillment delivers rapid shipping throughout the entire West Coast. More than 99.9% of the products we deliver reach their destination on time, and we can offer 2-day shipping for priority orders, helping you to keep your customers happy. 

By optimizing warehouse locations, we not only ensure that your products get closer to the end customer faster, but we can also help you minimize shipping expenses. Relentless Fulfillment offers a wide range of flexible shipping options, from standard to expedited options, so you can cater to different customer preferences and needs. 

Working with a fulfillment partner that understands the critical importance of timely, reliable shipping means you can meet customer expectations every time. It’s the key to driving customer satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat business at scale.

Overcoming Supplement Fulfillment Challenges

Managing supplement fulfillment can be complex. There are a lot of unique challenges that supplement brands need to overcome to ensure that they can delight their customers, adhere to regulatory standards, and keep costs low. 

Ultimately, the best way to make sure you can achieve sustainable growth, and minimize risks, is to find a partner that can streamline your fulfillment journey. Partnering with a specialist like Relentless Fulfillment gives you more than just logistics support.

It ensures you can access everything from climate-controlled storage to unique packaging options, real-time inventory insights, and rapid shipping solutions. We offer the tools, experience, and solutions supplement brands need to stay one step ahead in a competitive market. Discover how partnering with Relentless Fulfillment can help you overcome the challenges of shipping, compliance, and inventory management for supplements, and accomplish more in this growing industry.
Contact Relentless Fulfillment today, and set your business up for success.

Navigating SKU Management for Fashion eCommerce

Navigating SKU Management for Fashion eCommerce

SKU management isn’t easy to navigate for fast-paced fashion brands. Inventory management, and apparel logistics can be notoriously complicated, thanks to the wide range of product variations (different sizes, colors, and styles) they need to manage.

It’s easy to make mistakes that can lead to stockouts, mis-picks, and other costly errors that frustrate your customers and harm your brand’s reputation.

In fact, one report found that the apparel industry has among the highest out-of-stock rates of any sector, thanks largely to the complexity of SKU management. Another found that fashion retailers can miss out on about $1 trillion in sales due to stockout issues.

Fortunately, SKU management doesn’t have to be a nightmare for fashion brands. Here’s how you can overcome the unique challenges facing your ecommerce SKU strategy, and pave the way for long-term success.

Challenges of High SKU Counts in Apparel Logistics


Inventory management can be complex in any industry, but the fashion landscape deals with more challenges than most. Fashion companies can end up with hundreds, even thousands of SKUs at once. For instance, the fast-fashion brand SHEIN added around 260,000 new SKUs to its inventory in 2021.
Every product you sell as an ecommerce brand in the fashion sector undoubtedly comes with multiple variations. For instance, a single t-shirt available in six sizes and five colors results in thirty SKUs. This exponential growth can overwhelm even seasoned inventory managers.

The more products you add to your collection to appeal to a wider range of customers (and outshine the competition) the more complex fashion inventory management becomes.

High SKU counts in the fashion industry come with other unique challenges too. Organizing your warehouse becomes tricky when you’re dealing with numerous SKUs, making it harder to locate products quickly, leading to issues with order picking efficiency and accuracy. That results in longer fulfillment times, and a greater risk of dissatisfied customers.

On top of that, demand forecasting adds another layer of complexity. With each SKU representing a unique product variation, predicting customer demand accurately becomes increasingly difficult. Misjudging demand can lead to overstock, tying up capital in unsold inventory, or stockouts, resulting in lost sales and frustrated customers. You could even end up spending a fortune on warehouse space you don’t need – that’s problematic at a time when warehousing costs grew by 10.1% in the last year.

Plus, there’s the challenge of dealing with returns to think about too. Customers frequently return items due to fit issues, style mismatches and other factors in the fashion space. These returns can disrupt SKU management systems, complicating restocking processes and increasing labor costs. Efficiently managing returned items while ensuring accurate SKU counts can feel like an uphill battle.

Best Practices for Managing High SKU Counts


Avoiding the challenges of fashion inventory management and apparel logistics doesn’t have to mean minimizing the number of products you sell, and stifling your growth. Even with high SKU counts, there are steps you can take to stay one step ahead of the game.
Here are the best practices you should be following:

  1. Use SKU Categorization and Standardization
    Studies have shown that SKU standardization can save businesses between $15,000 and $800,000 on an annual basis. Implementing strategic categorization and standardization initiatives is the key to maintaining more control over your ecommerce SKU strategy.
    Start by implementing logical SKU naming conventions – for instance, you could use the format of “brand-size-color-style”. This makes it easy to identify variations at speed within your system. Grouping similar products under a parent SKU can significantly enhance organization.
    For example, a “blue medium t-shirt” can fall under the same parent SKU as its various size and color counterparts. This method reduces the number of unique SKUs your team needs to keep track of, making inventory management a lot easier. It can also help your team see all variations at a glance, making it easier to monitor stock levels and sales performance.
  2. Implement a Robust Inventory Management System
    There’s a reason why the global inventory management software market is expected to reach a value of $7.69 billion by 2032 â€“ it saves companies time and money. In the world of fashion, inventory management software ensures you can accurately keep track of stock levels and movement in real-time. It gives you a broad and complete overview of your current situation.
    For the best results, make sure your IMS solution integrates with the other tools you’re using to manage products and order fulfillment, such as your ecommerce platform (like Shopify and Magento), and your warehouse management system.
    Connecting these technologies ensures you’ll maintain a centralized and up-to-date view of your inventory across all sales channels, reducing discrepancies and improving accuracy.
    As your fashion business grows, or you expand into multiple regions, explore the benefits of multi-warehouse management solutions. These will allow you to allocate stock effectively based on demand, optimize shipping times, and minimize costs.
  3. Automate SKU Management with Technology
    Automation technologies are an efficiency-boosting dream come true for fashion brands. By 2030, McKinsey predicts that fashion companies will be spending up to 3.5% of their revenue on technology each year – prioritizing automation, AI, and productivity boosting tech.
    Automation tools can significantly enhance your SKU management efforts. For instance, you can use automated replenishment triggers in a system to alert your team when specific size or color variations reach a predefined minimum stock level. This reduces your risk of stockouts and frustrated customers.
    You can tap into artificial intelligence to help you plan for future inventory decisions, with demand-driven forecasting and predictive analytics. You can even integrate technology like RFID scanning, barcoding, and pick-and-pack systems into your process to reduce human errors and mistakes.
    Embracing the era of automation doesn’t just make your fashion company faster and more efficient, it can save you money, and improve your relationships with your customers.
  4. Invest in SKU Rationalization
    Finally, while you shouldn’t be removing products from your inventory just to reduce the complexity of SKU management, you can get rid of items that aren’t helping you grow. SKU rationalization processes give you a chance to evaluate the performance of every SKU, to identify slow-moving or redundant items that just aren’t worth future investment.
    This can help you to identify which items you shouldn’t be spending your money on going forward, based on buyer trends and behaviors. Plus, it means you can reduce the complexity within your fashion inventory management system, freeing up valuable space and resources.
    Make time in your calendar throughout the year to identify which SKUs are genuinely driving sales and increasing customer satisfaction, and make sure they’re the ones you prioritize. Low-performing SKUs aren’t diversifying your product collection – they’re just holding you back.

The Role of Kitting and Bundling in SKU Management

One extra strategy you can consider if you’re looking for a way to optimize your ecommerce SKU strategy, and apparel logistics efforts, is the use of bundling and kitting. Kitting and bundling strategies can have significant benefits for all kinds of ecommerce brands.

They can help you increase customer lifetime value, and generate loyalty towards your brand. In fact, companies that leverage product bundles usually end up with customers with 2.7 times higher lifetime values than their competitors.

Beyond this, bundling and kitting gives you a chance to streamline SKU management. By offering product bundles or kits—such as a t-shirt and jeans combo—businesses can reduce their overall SKU counts while simultaneously boosting sales. Instead of managing each product variation as an individual SKU, retailers can create a combined offering that appeals to a wide audience.

The key to success is making sure you continue to manage these kits with separate SKUs for inventory tracking purposes, but working with a fulfillment partner that can easily “bundle” the products together for you. This ensures that you can rapidly fulfill orders, while monitoring the performance of individual bundles and products.

Fulfilling bundle orders together also streamlines the fulfillment process, increasing efficiency, reducing the risk of mispicks, and speeding up delivery times. That all leads to more satisfied customers, and the potential for higher revenue.

Streamlining SKU Management in the Fashion Sector

Ecommerce inventory management is complex, particularly in the fashion sector, where SKU counts are high, and countless variables can cause disruptions. Learning how to effectively manage your SKUs with the right standardization processes, strategies, and technologies is the key to making sure you can achieve sustainable growth in a competitive market.

The more you adopt cutting-edge technology, automated practices, and work with the right partners to help enhance apparel logistics, the more your profitability will grow. Your approach to SKU management can help to differentiate your company from the competition, and pave the way for stronger relationships with your customers.

Don’t let high SKU counts overwhelm your business, and stifle your growth. Work with a partner like Relentless Fulfillment and access the technology and support you need to give your fashion brand an edge. Contact our team today to learn more about how we can help you to master the complexity of order fulfillment in the apparel industry.

How Fast Fulfillment Drives Customer Retention in Fashion

How Fast Fulfillment Drives Customer Retention in Fashion

The Link Between Fast Shipping and Customer Retention

Fast delivery meets customers’ high expectations. Over 80% of shoppers say they’re more likely to purchase from brands offering same-day shipping, and 66% of U.S. consumers expect free two-day delivery. Fulfilling these demands is essential to remain competitive, as slow delivery times can drive customers to shop elsewhere.
Quick and reliable shipping reassures new customers, creating a positive first impression. As trust builds, customers are more likely to return, increasing their lifetime value. A consistent track record for fast delivery keeps customers loyal and helps fashion brands differentiate themselves. For instance, ASOS has over 25 million active users, partly due to its fast and dependable shipping options.
For apparel brands, rapid fulfillment is essential to retain first-time buyers and encourage repeat purchases.

Efficient Returns: A Key Component of Customer Loyalty

Returns are common in fashion eCommerce, especially in high-return categories like women’s apparel, where return rates average 23%. A seamless returns process can make a significant difference in customer satisfaction and retention. Nearly 51% of customers avoid brands with a difficult return policy, while 92% say a positive return experience makes them more likely to buy again.
Relentless Fulfillment offers reverse logistics solutions that simplify the returns process. With an efficient system for handling returns, fashion brands can reassure customers and build trust. An easy returns process can turn potential frustrations into positive experiences, strengthening the customer relationship and increasing repeat purchases.

Best Practices for Fast Fulfillment in Fashion

Achieving fast, reliable fulfillment requires a clear strategy. Here are three core steps to streamline your fulfillment process:

  1. Optimize Warehouse and Inventory Management
    â—‹ Effective inventory and warehouse management are foundational for fast fulfillment. Real-time tracking with Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and RFID technology allows for accurate inventory counts and efficient order processing.
    â—‹ Organized stock placement in the warehouse ensures that high-demand items are easy to locate, expediting both outbound shipping and returns processing.
  2. Leverage Automation in Fulfillment
    â—‹ Automation reduces errors, saves time, and streamlines the order fulfillment process. Automated systems handle tasks like order processing and real-time stock updates, minimizing delays and improving transparency.
    â—‹ Integration between inventory systems and eCommerce platforms ensures customers get accurate information on stock availability, preventing out-of-stock frustrations.
  3. Partner with a Reliable 3PL Provider
    â—‹ Third-party logistics providers handle logistics complexities, allowing brands to focus on their core activities. Relentless Fulfillment offers services tailored to the unique needs of fashion brands, from kitting and packaging to efficient shipping and returns management.
    â—‹ With experience in apparel logistics, Relentless Fulfillment can help brands offer fast, reliable delivery that meets modern customer expectations.
    Advantages of Relentless Fulfillment’s Reno Location
    Relentless Fulfillment’s location in Reno, Nevada, offers significant benefits for fashion brands:
    ● Proximity to Major West Coast Markets: Reno’s location enables efficient, overnight, and two-day ground shipping options across the West Coast, giving brands a competitive edge in speed.
    ● Lower Logistics Costs: Nevada’s favorable tax climate can reduce logistics expenses, particularly compared to neighboring states.
    â—Ź Enhanced Transportation Access: Reno is well-connected by major highways, railroads, and airports, streamlining shipping routes and reducing delivery times.
    These geographical advantages make Relentless Fulfillment’s Reno location ideal for fast fulfillment, which directly benefits customer satisfaction and retention.

    The ROI of Fast Fulfillment: Retention and Referral


    Investing in a fast and reliable fulfillment strategy delivers measurable returns:
    â—Ź Higher Customer Lifetime Value: Customers who receive prompt, accurate deliveries are more likely to make repeat purchases, increasing their value over time.
    â—Ź Word-of-Mouth Referrals: Satisfied customers recommend brands they trust, enhancing reputation and reducing acquisition costs.
    â—Ź Improved Operational Efficiency: A well-organized fulfillment strategy minimizes errors, reduces delays, and lowers costs, supporting smooth business operations.
    Fast fulfillment helps brands stand out, building loyalty and driving revenue growth.

    Conclusion
    For fashion eCommerce brands, fulfillment speed and efficiency are essential to meet customer expectations, boost retention, and drive growth. Relentless Fulfillment, with its strategic Reno location and specialized services, provides brands with the infrastructure needed to deliver reliable, fast, and cost-effective fulfillment.
    If you’re ready to enhance your fulfillment strategy, Relentless Fulfillment can help. Contact our team to learn how our 3PL services can support your brand’s growth and keep customers coming back.
Why Specialized Fulfillment is Crucial for Cosmetic Brands: Key Challenges and Solutions

Why Specialized Fulfillment is Crucial for Cosmetic Brands: Key Challenges and Solutions

Managing fulfillment effectively can be challenging for any company, but cosmetics and beauty brands face more hurdles than most. Investing in specialized fulfillment for cosmetics brands isn’t just a way to improve customer experiences and enhance your brand reputation.

It can be crucial to complying with complex industry standards, protecting delicate and fragile products, and managing ever-fluctuating SKU counts and product collections.

In a market as competitive as the cosmetics sector, which is set to reach a value of $758.05 billion by 2032, partnering with the right fulfillment partner is everything.

Here’s how the right team can help you overcome countless cosmetic fulfillment challenges, boost revenue, and increase customer loyalty.

The Top Cosmetic Fulfillment Challenges

The cosmetics industry is thriving, but worldwide, managing beauty product logistics can be extremely challenging.

From making sure fragile bottles and products stay safe during transit, to navigating the impact climate control can have on sensitive products, there are a lot of issues to address. Here are some of the biggest factors that can complicate efficient distribution for beauty brands.

Project Fragility

Many beauty products are fragile, from carefully compressed powders to glass perfume bottles, and liquid-based items. Without effective cosmetic packaging solutions, it’s easy for a product to be damaged during transit. This doesn’t just harm the customer experience; it also means companies frequently waste money replacing broken goods.
Beauty companies need to work with fulfillment companies to choose the right protective packaging, or they risk losses to their cash flow, reputation, and customer base.

Temperature Sensitivity

It’s not just the risk of broken bottles companies in the cosmetics industry need to worry about. The ingredients in certain products can be highly sensitive too. Various creams, serums, lipsticks, and items made with natural ingredients can be damaged by sudden temperature changes.
Cold conditions can alter the consistency of products, while excessive heat can cause delicate substances to melt. This makes temperature-controlled storage for cosmetics crucial to ensuring every product arrives at its destination in excellent condition

Compliance in Cosmetics Fulfillment

Like many companies selling “consumable products” cosmetics brands are subject to strict regulatory guidelines, which require them to take extra precautions to ensure customer safety. Products need to be labeled with clear information on ingredients and usage lists, as well as expiration dates.
Plus, depending on where you are in the world, there may be additional regional regulations to consider about how packages are assembled and delivered. Failure to adhere to these stands puts you at risk of hefty fines, product recalls, and damage to your brand’s reputation.

Evolving Customer Expectations

Customers in every industry now demand more from the companies they buy products from. They expect cosmetics companies to deliver products fast, and in excellent condition. Plus, they’re looking for premium unboxing experiences, particularly in the age of popular unboxing videos on social media. Delays, poor packaging, or a lackluster unboxing experience can damage brand loyalty.
This means cosmetics companies need to go above and beyond to optimize the shopping experience for their customers, by investing in the right packaging and delivery strategies.

The Benefits of Specialized Fulfillment for Cosmetics Brands

Specialized fulfillment for cosmetics brands empowers companies in a complicated industry to access the expertise of specialists who understand the challenges they face. Innovative partners like Relentless Fulfillment can offer storage, packaging, and delivery solutions that reduce operational costs, improve customer experiences, and boost brand reputation.
The right partner will help you overcome cosmetic fulfillment challenges with:

Unique Packaging Solutions

A specialist fulfillment partner with experience in the cosmetics industry will offer a range of unique packaging options designed to protect fragile products. They can use a range of techniques and protective materials to ensure products reach customers in pristine condition.
Plus, a company offering fulfillment services for fragile cosmetics will know how to protect your products, without compromising on your brand’s image or the “unboxing experience”. They’ll know how to make your brand shine with stickers, labels, and innovative materials

Climate Controlled Storage

Since beauty products are often sensitive to temperature changes, working with a vendor that can offer temperature-controlled storage for cosmetics is crucial. An experienced fulfillment company will carefully maintain optimal temperatures in product storage facilities for all of your cosmetics items, and even use packaging strategies to reduce the risk of temperature fluctuation during transit.
With the support of a specialist fulfillment partner, you’ll be able to maintain product integrity, and give customers a more consistently excellent experience with your brand

Compliance Management

Thanks to their years of experience working in highly regulated environments, like the beauty industry, specialist fulfillment providers will be able to help you adapt to strict standards surrounding labeling, packaging, bundling, and more.
They’ll work with you to ensure that all products pass compliance checks before they’re shipped to customers, reducing the risk of fines, and reputational damage. These companies can even help you avoid the headaches associated with product recalls

Efficient Distribution Networks

Now that customers expect to receive products faster than ever before, working with a specialist fulfillment company that can promise quick delivery is crucial. A premium partner will work with distribution networks and partners in your region to offer everything from one-day and two-day delivery, to express shipping for your target audience.
This ensures you can meet customer demands for fast deliveries, without compromising on product safety, or the unboxing experience. With strategically located fulfillment centers, optimized routes, and advanced tracking systems, brands can even deliver products faster while minimizing shipping errors, and reducing unnecessary returns.

Why Work with Relentless Fulfillment?

Plenty of companies can offer specialized fulfillment services to cosmetic brands, but only a handful of organizations have the experience, technology, and expertise to help you truly optimize your logistics processes. Relentless Fulfillment is a beauty products logistics partner with genuine experience working with world-leading cosmetic companies.


For years, we’ve offered access to crucial services, from temperature-controlled storage for cosmetics, to rapid two-day delivery solutions. Most importantly, we know that every company is unique, which is why we ensure our fulfillment process aligns with your unique needs.
Relentless Fulfillment offers beauty companies a service that’s

● Customized: We offer bespoke services to companies of all sizes, whether you’re looking for tailored packaging solutions and climate-controlled storage, or unique bundling and kitting expertise. Our team adapts to help you achieve your specific goals, and overcome common challenges in the logistics and fulfillment journey.

● Scalable: Beauty businesses can grow quickly, particularly when their latest products “go viral” on social media, or earn the attention of influencers. We grow with the brands we serve, offering tailored solutions that evolve as your business expands.

● Flexible: We can adapt to various fulfillment strategies, such as “FIFO” (First In, First Out), and FEFO (First Expired, First Out) methods to help you make the most of your inventory. Relentless Fulfillment even offers comprehensive lot control and expiration date tracking, to help you adhere to the standards of customers, and regulators.

● Advanced: Our team uses state-of-the-art technology for real-time order tracking, inventory management, and precise order fulfillment. Our approach ensures you’ll always have complete visibility into your logistics process, so you can adapt quickly to new challenges and opportunities. That way, we help you grow, while reducing risks.

â—Ź Proven: We have a phenomenal track record, and have earned fantastic feedback from countless companies in the cosmetic industries. Just check out our customer testimonials and reviews for insights into how much our customers appreciate our client-first, collaborative, and transparent approach to order fulfillment.

Working with Relentless Fulfillment

Working with Relentless Fulfillment means partnering with an industry leader that prioritizes your brand’s success and growth.
Optimizing Beauty Product Logistics and Fulfillment Handling fulfillment in the beauty and cosmetics industry can be challenging. Dealing with everything from fragile products in need of unique packaging solutions, to safe and compliant order storage and transportation is extremely complex.
Working with a specialized fulfillment company, with years of experience supporting cosmetics brands, can help you to bypass common fulfillment challenges, reduce costs, improve your brand reputation, and strengthen relationships with customers.

At Relentless Fulfillment, we help companies in the cosmetics landscape thrive with fast, efficient, and customizable solutions for packaging, bundling, kitting, delivery, and more.

Contact us today to learn how our services can help you surpass customer expectations and achieve sustainable growth in your industry.

Maximizing Supplement Sales through Effective Bundling and Kitting Strategies

Maximizing Supplement Sales through Effective Bundling and Kitting Strategies

If you’re not already investing in bundling and kitting for supplements sales growth, you’re missing out. Bundling, which involves selling multiple products together at a discounted rate, and kitting, which combine complementary items into a cohesive package, can turbocharge business results.

Bundling and supplement kitting services not only give companies a unique opportunity to increase average order value, by encouraging customers to buy more products at once, they can also enhance customer loyalty. By increasing the convenience of the shopping experience, and giving your customers more value from every purchase, you can increase their devotion to your brand.

Some studies even show that consumers that leverage product bundles have a 2.7 times higher lifetime value (LTV) than their counterparts. Here’s your guide to using bundling and kitting strategies to maximize your sales, and boost customer retention.

Understanding Bundling and Kitting for Supplements

Bundling and kitting are two common concepts in the retail and ecommerce landscape. Using innovative supplement packaging solutions, companies combine products into higher-value stacks for their target audience. With kitting, you combine various related products into a single unit. For instance, you might offer customers an everyday wellness kit of vitamins, minerals and probiotics.

With bundling, you’ll combine various complementary products, or more of the same product into a discounted package. For instance, you might offer a bundle featuring 6 packets of protein powder, for a lower cost than customers would pay to buy each item separately.

Both strategies give you an opportunity to encourage customers to purchase more products than they had originally planned, increasing average order value. Plus, they can help you to introduce customers to complementary products they hadn’t considered purchasing in the past, and give you a chance to move inventory and stock faster, increasing cash flow efficiency.

The Impact of Bundling and Kitting on Supplement Sales

Bundling and kitting for supplements companies offers a fantastic opportunity to accelerate stock turnover, increase customer satisfaction, and boost sales. With the right fulfillment services for supplements, you can create a tailored strategy that leads to benefits like:

Increased Average Order Value (AOV)

Both bundling and kitting encourage customers to purchase more items at once. With bundles, you can prompt customers to buy items in bulk, rather than purchasing supplement products one at a time. With kitting, you can combine various related products into a single batch.

This naturally increases average order value, while also enhancing customer satisfaction, as with the right discount, customers will feel they’re getting more for their money. This improves your customer’s perception of your brand.

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction

Aside from boosting customer satisfaction by allowing buyers to get more for their money, bundling and supplement kitting services can enhance customer experiences in other ways. It allows you to offer a simplified shopping experience, ensuring customers can quickly add a range of related products to their baskets at once, without spending as much time searching.

If you create bundles and kits based on your customer’s specific priorities and needs, you also reduce the time customers need to spend researching the best combination of solutions to their problems. As a result, satisfied customers are more likely to return for repeat purchases, fostering loyalty and improving long-term revenue.

Improved Inventory Management

Kitting can simplify inventory management by allowing businesses to move related products together rather than individually. This reduces the complexity of tracking multiple individual items and helps clear out slower-moving stock. For example, if a certain beauty supplement for hair growth isn’t selling well, bundling it with a popular product for skin health can increase sales.

Depending on the fulfillment and supplement kitting services you access, these strategies can also help to reduce shipping costs. You can package multiple items together, rather than having to pick, package, and send various products individually.

New Marketing Opportunities

A great bundle or kit can help you to attract more potential customers to your store. It can help you grab the attention of new consumers looking for great supplement deals. Plus, it can introduce both new and existing customers to different products or solutions they hadn’t previously considered.
You can even design comprehensive marketing and sales campaigns around specific consumer goals. For instance, you might introduce a new “Beach body” supplement kit for summer, and a “Winter wellness kit” for the colder months.

Increased Differentiation

In a competitive industry like the supplements space, bundling and kitting can be an excellent way to differentiate your company from other brands. It’s a great way to set yourself apart from other organizations by selling individual products for specific needs. With a bundle or a kit, you can provide your customers with an all-in-one solution to their wellness issues.
Plus, if you tailor your bundles and kits to your target audience, you demonstrate a deep knowledge of their specific needs and goals, which can elevate your brand’s reputation.

How to Implement Effective Bundling and Kitting Strategies

While there are many benefits to bundling and kitting for supplements, there are a few challenges to consider too. Not only will you need to make sure you’re adhering to industry guidelines for how you combine and ship your products, but you’ll need to make sure you’re creating the right product offers to attract and convert as many customers as possible.
Here’s how you can boost your chances of success:

Carefully Identify Complementary Products

The first step in creating effective bundles and kits is defining which products you should combine. This isn’t just a matter of finding your top-selling products, or choosing to offer bulk order discounts for products that aren’t selling as well. You need to identify which complementary products or packages align with your customer’s specific needs.

For instance, if you know that your customers prioritize variety in their protein powders, then offering a bundled price for multiple flavors or options at once might be a good idea. You can also create kits designed to address specific health goals. An “immune support” kit might combine multivitamins with probiotics and omega-3 capsules, for instance.

Alternatively, a beauty supplement company might package hair, nails, skin, and similar supplements together in a comprehensive aesthetics kit.

Get the Pricing and Offers Right

Customers need an incentive to encourage them to purchase more products at once. If your buyers can access all of the products in your bundle or kit separately, for the same price, they’re more likely to make smaller purchases. Think about how you can effectively show your customers that they’re getting a great deal, while maximizing your profit margins.

For instance, offering a 10% discount on the price of a bundle or kit, compared to the total price of purchasing all of the products individually can significantly increase conversion rates. Larger discounts can significantly help to move slower-selling products too, particularly when they’re bundled with more popular items.

You could even consider running seasonal promotions, or limited-time deals, or offering extra incentives like free shipping to boost interest in your bundles. Consider exclusive gift bundles, or “New Year’s Resolution Kits” to attract and convert both new and existing shoppers.

Embrace Personalization

71% of customers now expect personalized experiences from brands. With the right supplement packaging solutions from a reputable fulfillment provider, you can use personalization to add an extra layer of effectiveness to your bundling and kitting strategy.

For example, you might give customers the option to build their own unique “kits”, allowing them to choose from a range of complementary supplements they can add to a package for a discount price. This can allow customers to design parcels based on their specific health goals, such as muscle recovery, stress relief, or general wellness.

Personalized kits can help make customers feel valued and appreciated, and they can lead to increased loyalty among your consumers. Shoppers are more likely to return to a brand that caters specifically to their unique requirements and interests.

Benefits of Using Relentless Fulfillment for Bundling and Kitting

At Relentless Fulfillment, we offer companies an easy way to get started with effective bundling and kitting for supplements. Our personalized approach to streamlining fulfillment services for supplements firms has made us the ultimate partner for companies looking to increase growth, revenue, and customer loyalty. When you work with us, you get:

â—Ź Expertise in supplement fulfillment: Relentless has a track record of delivering exceptional kitting, bundling, and fulfillment services to supplement firms. We understand the unique needs and challenges that supplement companies can face, and customize our strategies to meet your specific needs, and the expectations of your target audience.
● Customizable solutions: We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to packaging and fulfillment. We know supplement companies all have their own specific needs and challenges. That’s why we offer comprehensive flexibility when it comes to packaging, labeling and presentation, ensuring we can adapt to your needs, and reflect your brand.
● Efficiency and accuracy: Relentless Fulfillment leverages advanced technology, as well as tried-and-tested techniques to ensure every bundle and kit is assembled correctly, and delivered to customers on time. That’s how we ensure our supplement kitting services, and fulfillment solutions have a positive impact on customer trust and loyalty.
● Scalable services: As your supplement business grows and evolves, we can adapt alongside you. We’ll work with you to adhere to changes in demand, adjusting our services and offerings to suit your new requirements. No matter how big your business becomes, we’ll always be there, by your side.

Increasing Sales with Supplement Kitting Services


The benefits of bundling and kitting for supplements companies can be astronomical. With the right strategy, and the support of an intuitive fulfillment team, you can unlock new ways to accelerate inventory turnover, increase cash flow, and improve customer loyalty.

With the right bundles and kits, you can turbocharge your revenue, consistently increase average order values, and reduce the risk of leaving time-sensitive products to stagnate in your warehouses. At Relentless Fulfillment, we’ll help you take the next step in your growth journey, with bespoke bundling and supplement kitting services, customized to suit your needs.

Our expertise, commitment to customer care, and reliability make us the number one choice for supplement brands ready to foster sustainable growth.

Contact our team today to learn more about how we can help you optimize your bundling and kitting strategies.

Essential Tips for Managing Seasonal Peaks in Apparel Fulfillment

Essential Tips for Managing Seasonal Peaks in Apparel Fulfillment

In every retail landscape, annual events and trends in buyer behaviors can lead to significant increases in demand during specific seasons, increasing the challenges of fulfillment. The November to December gift-buying months alone can account for up to 20% of a retailer’s sales for the entire year.

While all companies can struggle to navigate inventory, logistics, and supply chain management during these times, seasonal peaks in apparel fulfillment can be particularly complicated to navigate. After all, apparel companies don’t just see an increase in demand around the holidays.

Back-to-school shopping sprees, emerging fashion trends, and even seasonal wardrobe changes can lead to sudden spikes in sales. Delays or errors in the fulfillment process around these peak times can result in lost sales, increased costs, and damaged customer relationships.

Effective fulfillment management during these peaks is not just about coping with increased volume; it’s about optimizing operations to maintain a seamless customer experience. Here are our top tips for improving fulfillment, and navigating seasonal demand.

Understanding Seasonal Peaks in Apparel Fulfillment

Seasonal peaks are periods of high demand for specific products that occur at certain times of the year. Most companies are familiar with rising order volumes and sales around the winter festive period, but peaks in demand can occur at multiple times throughout the year for apparel companies.
Holidays, fashion cycles, and weather changes all have an impact on purchasing behavior. For instance, winter clothing sees a significant increase in demand during the fall and winter months as consumers prepare for colder weather, while summer apparel experiences a surge in late spring and early summer as people seek lighter, warm-weather garments.

Additionally, holiday seasons like Black Friday, Christmas, and back-to-school shopping periods are critical times when demand for various types of apparel skyrockets. Managing these peaks in demand can be complex. On the one hand, increased sales means great things for an apparel company’s profit margins – but this is only true if they can accommodate increased sales.

Many apparel companies struggle to manage inventory systems, attempting to balance the risk of stockouts (which cause missed sales opportunities) against the danger of overstocking. Fulfillment operations also experience significant strain during these periods. A surge in orders requires faster processing times, greater coordination between departments, and robust logistics processes.
Failure to accurately prepare for fluctuations can also lead to problems in the supply chain, with ripple effects that harm customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

Tips for Managing Seasonal Peaks in Apparel Fulfillment

Managing seasonal peaks in apparel fulfillment isn’t easy. Companies that aren’t fully prepared can find themselves struggling with significant delays, errors, and issues meeting customer expectations. The good news is that an effective approach to planning, fulfillment, and inventory management for seasonal demand can have a positive impact on any apparel organization’s growth.

Based on our experience helping brands to enhance their apparel fulfillment strategies, here are our top tips for successfully managing peaks in demand.

Invest in Efficient Inventory Management

Optimizing inventory management for seasonal demand challenges is crucial to ensuring you can continue to increase sales, delight customers, and avoid lost opportunities as demand increases.
The right strategy involves finding a way to fight back against the risk of understocking, while also mitigating the threat of overstocking, which ties up valuable capital and increases storage costs. Apparel companies may leverage strategies like “Just-in-Time” (JIT) inventory management.
JIT stocking techniques reduce waste by ensuring goods are received and used only as needed, minimizing excess stock and associated costs. This approach requires precise coordination with suppliers and efficient logistics but can significantly enhance operational efficiency during peak seasons.
Companies can also prepare for success by leveraging safety stock. Maintaining a reserve of extra inventory (focused on popular and high-selling products), can offer a cushion against unexpected spikes in demand and supply chain disruptions.

Technology can also significantly improve and enhance inventory management technology. Advanced inventory management systems (IMS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software enable real-time tracking of stock levels, accurate demand forecasting, and automated reordering processes. Integrating technologies such as RFID and barcoding further enhances inventory accuracy and efficiency by streamlining tracking and reducing human error.

Use Seasonal Demand Forecasting Strategies

While predicting the exact number of orders you’ll receive, or which products will be most popular during seasonal spikes in demand is difficult, there are strategies you can use to take a data-driven approach to your apparel fulfillment strategies.

Effective seasonal demand forecasting will ensure you can collaborate with suppliers on inventory, and arrange strategies for quick fulfillment with logistics partners in advance. Accurate forecasting in the apparel industry typically starts with historical data analysis. Examining past sales numbers throughout the years can offer an insight into recurring peaks in purchasing patterns.

Monitoring market trends and conditions, as well as industry trends, can also help you adjust your forecast based on new dynamics. Analytics platforms leveraging statistical algorithms and machine learning can even use historical data and real-time insights to help boost the accuracy of your predictions. For instance, tools like SPSS and SAS are excellent for predicting future trends.

Apparel companies can even take advantage of software suites and solutions like Oracle Demantra, or SAP Integrated Business Planning, for real-time data processing and scenario planning, further refining predictions. While accurate forecasting can be complex, the benefits are substantial.

The more data-driven insights you have, the easier it will be to prevent overstocks and stockouts, reduce holding costs, and ensure inventory levels align with customer demand.

Streamlining Operations with 3PL Providers

Finally, aside from leveraging seasonal demand forecasting, and robust inventory management for seasonal demand changes, working with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider can help streamline your operations. Outsourcing fulfillment processes, such as picking and packaging, and shipping processes to companies with experience navigating seasonal peaks in the apparel industry is powerful.

Expert apparel fulfillment companies, like Relentless Fulfillment offer companies access to a customizable service, adapted to their specific needs. Relentless can offer access to specialized storage and packaging solutions for apparel, enhanced kitting solutions, and logistics expertise.

During peak seasons, when logistical complexities increase and demand surges, working with Relentless Fulfillment means you can access the flexibility you need to handle challenges efficiently. Throughout the year, we can adjust our resources, services, and capacity to meet your needs, helping you to prepare for high-demand periods, such as holiday seasons and sales.

This means you can scale quickly, without having to invest in additional infrastructure on in-house staff. Plus, Relentless Fulfillment’s specialized technology helps you to track inventory levels, align your teams, and streamline order processing.

With real-time tracking and reporting capabilities, you gain visibility into your supply chain and can make informed decisions to address any issues that arise.

Prepare for Seasonal Peaks with Relentless Fulfillment


Handling seasonal peaks in apparel fulfillment can be notoriously complex. With so many factors influencing changes in demand for apparel products, companies need to constantly adapt and evolve to ensure they’re adhering to market demand, and delivering a constant customer experience.
Staying ahead of the competition, and earning the loyalty of your customers, requires a holistic approach to inventory management, advanced demand forecasting, and operational management.
Fortunately, Relentless Fulfillment can help you implement the strategies you need to increase your sales, and reduce risks, throughout the year. We offer the perfect combination of inventory management technology, apparel fulfillment strategies, and expertise to support all types of apparel companies, as they navigate annual spikes in sales.

For a tailored solution to your fulfillment challenges, ready to scale to support any change in market demand, contact Relentless Fulfillment today.