Nederlands
Black Friday creates the busiest weeks of the year for many brands. In the Netherlands, order volumes often triple. Across Europe, peak-season growth has been rising 30 to 40 percent every year. For online stores, this is the moment when your logistics are pushed to the limit.
Customers expect fast delivery: order today, receive it tomorrow. That puts your team, inventory and transport under pressure, which often results in delays, return spikes and reputational damage. But if you handle this pressure well, you can actually boost customer satisfaction.
What Black Friday really means for your fulfillment
Black Friday is the ultimate stress test. Order volumes double or even triple. In many sectors, weekly order volumes rise by more than 70 percent.
And Black Friday is only the beginning. Cyber Monday, the holiday season and January clearance sales follow right after. In consumer electronics, revenue weeks before Black Friday 2024 was already 6 percent higher. On Black Friday itself, sales still grew another 3.6 percent compared to 2023. So which challenges typically pop up once the peak hits?
The biggest bottlenecks during peak weeks
Peak pressure rarely comes from one issue. It’s usually a mix of challenges that amplify each other.
- Staff shortages
Good staff is hard to find, especially in peak season. Temporary workers often don’t know your systems well, which leads to mistakes, slower workflows and higher costs.
- Inventory management
Demand shifts fast. Some products suddenly sell out, while others barely move. Without forecasting, realtime inventory visibility and tight planning, you end up with stockouts or overstock. Both create unnecessary costs and impact customer satisfaction.
- Delays in the logistics chain
Sorting hubs and carriers run at full capacity, which easily creates bottlenecks. Large European parcel carriers like DHL process over 12 million parcels per day in Europe during Black Friday and the holiday season, and more than 2 million per day in the Netherlands. The result is longer lead times, more customer questions and higher costs due to urgent shipments or switching carriers. With Single Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas happening so close together, there is barely any recovery time. It can take weeks before sorting hubs and webshops catch up.
- Rising shipping costs
During peak weeks, many carriers increase their shipping and return rates. This puts pressure on your margins.
Checklist for peak-proof fulfillment
A supply chain that can handle peak pressure requires preparation and scalable processes. This checklist helps you get through Black Friday and the holiday season without friction.
- Forecast based on data
Combine historical sales data with current trends. Identify which products performed well and which ones are gaining traction now. You can use forecasting tools like Slimstock, Sortly or Oodo. You can also start simple with an ABC analysis in Excel. This helps you restock in time and avoid overstock or missed revenue.
- Scale smartly with temporary staff
Bring in extra staff quickly during peak weeks, supported by clear processes and simple instructions. Think colour coding or short training videos. Teams with a stable flex pool can scale every year without losing quality. A smart option is to partner with local seasonal businesses like construction, painting or ice cream shops that have staff available during slower months.
- Use realtime integrations to avoid mistakes
Connect your webshop, WMS, ERP and carriers in realtime. Platforms like Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce and Lightspeed offer standard integrations with most 3PL partners. This synchronises orders, inventory and shipping options automatically. It prevents double orders, reduces returns, ensures customers only see available stock, enables flexible shipping options and sends track-and-trace updates automatically.
- Speed up order picking with automation
Make picking more efficient with batch picking, smart routing and automated systems. Solutions like Autostore can save up to 25 percent in time, reduce errors and increase capacity. If you work with a 3PL, share your peak expectations early so they can scale staff and systems in time.
- Work with multiple carriers
Use multiple carriers to reduce dependency and spread risk. This makes you more flexible when capacities tighten or prices change. It also keeps shipping costs under control and improves reliability.
- Invest in realtime tracking
Realtime tracking and automatic updates reduce customer questions and take pressure off your team. Proactive notifications by email or SMS keep customers informed and give you time to adjust inventory and transport.
- Plan ahead and monitor continuously
Review your logistics costs and shipping patterns early. Plan scalable transport capacity and use predictive models to reserve staff and carriers on time. With continuous monitoring, you can respond quickly and avoid surprises during peak weeks.
- Keep your return process simple
A smooth return flow prevents customer service overload and keeps customers happy. Allow customers to register returns online and generate a label automatically. Process returns centrally and aim for fast refunds, ideally within 48 hours. Connect returns to your CRM for easy follow-up. When you work with a fulfillment partner, they usually handle this end-to-end.
Scalability as a competitive advantage
Scalability is a real competitive edge. While some companies struggle during peak weeks, others use the pressure to grow. The difference lies in having a fulfillment setup that can scale up fast and scale down just as easily. This keeps your processes agile and your costs predictable.
With scalable systems like realtime inventory management, flexible staffing and strong IT integrations, you can respond instantly to changes in demand. This prevents bottlenecks, protects your margins and keeps delivery performance high. More brands now see scalability not just as a technical improvement but as a strategic foundation in a market where speed and service matter most.
Black Friday as an opportunity, not a crisis
Black Friday remains a tough stress test. Orders skyrocket, teams and inventory are stretched and carriers fill up fast. But inside that chaos, there are clear growth opportunities. Brands that work with strong forecasts, realtime visibility and scalable processes stay reliable, deliver faster and maintain high customer satisfaction long after the holidays. At Fulfillment Solutions, we see that partners with the right setup get through peak season smoothly and improve their profitability.
Curious how your business can become peak-proof? We’re happy to help you build a fulfillment strategy that grows with your ambitions.
