As we approach the Holiday Season, tension is mounting across every jewelry company. The final months of the year witness significant sales, and every jewelry company is eager to end the year on a strong note. Some expect to make 20% of their annual sales during the month of December.

"God, help us get through this Holiday season!" – but why do some jewelry owners approach this peak season with mixed feelings?

In this blog post, we aim to outline the primary challenges faced during the peak season and provide strategies for future mitigation.

Increased Demand

Companies typically make necessary preparations for this season to avoid being caught off guard by heightened demand. However, despite these preparations, how challenging is it for your company? If the response leans toward 'quite challenging,' it's possible that there are gaps in the process.

Perhaps it's time to consider a more automated order and process management system. An adaptable system that can seamlessly handle increased workloads may be the solution you need.

Increased Mistakes

If your company relies heavily on manual processes, the peak season can often result in a higher occurrence of errors. The increased workload can lead to reduced focus on individual orders. Your employees may experience elevated stress levels, causing their attention to waver more frequently than usual.

Implementing an advanced management system can act as a checkpoint or quality assurance tool with stringent rules, ensuring fewer to no mistakes are made.

Delays

Delays are common during the peak season, but they should not be considered normal. Assuming that customers will be understanding due to our workload may lead us down the wrong path. The following year, they may choose a different jeweler who provides professional service without excuses.

Or, your company could be that “different jeweler” who is retaining its customers and gaining new customers due to its professional service and good reputation.

But why do delays occur in the first place? Delays often arise due to process bottlenecks that haven't been anticipated with sufficient foresight. Effective planning and forecasting are only possible with a robust system that tracks your data throughout the year.

Understanding the time required to fulfill orders during other periods enables a more accurate forecast for delivery times during peak periods. This knowledge is crucial for efficient planning.

Inventory Management Issues

If your inventory management is handled manually, it might feel like you need a few extra pairs of hands before the peak season. Efficient inventory management is crucial during the peak season. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you've ordered too much or too little of a product or raw material.

The key solution lies in automation. Having a system that alerts and provides essential reports for decision-making means fewer surprises around the corner. Relying on Excel spreadsheets proves time-consuming, while an outdated or glitchy legacy management system tends to exacerbate issues rather than solve them.

Ensuring you have the right inventory management system in place is vital. Automate inventory movement and forecasting to streamline operations and mitigate errors during the peak season.

Staffing challenges and labor shortages

The jewelry industry still highly values the personal touch. Yet, finding skilled staff and temporary personnel for the holiday season poses considerable difficulty. Employees have their limits, and only a certain number of orders can be processed if you rely only on their work. What you can do to help them is to take the burden off their shoulders by automating the repetitive background tasks. Process more orders with the same number of staff – every entrepreneur's dream.

You guessed it right – you need a management system.

Management systems don't discriminate based on the volume of items you need to process. They act as the invisible workforce of your company, capable of handling tasks on your behalf or assisting you, ultimately boosting your efficiency. Jewelry companies that adopt a well-suited jewelry management system can easily scale their operations during the peak season. The system doesn't flinch at processing 500 orders from your website daily, whereas a manual process can quickly become overwhelming.

Choosing to hire more personnel may only serve to mask underlying inefficiencies rather than address them.

External dependency

Occasionally, issues arise due to external factors, particularly when our partners fail to deliver on time. Unfortunately, we have limited control in these instances, except to seek more reliable partners. As emphasized earlier, end users are less concerned with reasons for delays.

Reducing dependency can be achieved by internalizing more processes and automating workflows. By automating these processes, you bring them in-house, minimizing the impact of your vendors' issues.

Alternatively, recommending PIRO Fusion or similar ERP systems to underperforming partners might serve as a viable solution.

Should you recognize any of these issues after this year’s peak season, we are ready to collaborate with you to resolve these challenges. With 15 years of industry experience, we speak your language and understand your problems and can provide tailored solutions.