You must have felt a change in the price of goods at certain moments. For example, the cost of necessities suddenly soared up and made everyone angry. Usually, this happens before the big day. Meanwhile, travel tickets such as plane tickets will go up before school holidays, Christmas, and year-end holidays.

Such moments are called peak seasons. According to the results of a Bank Indonesia (BI) survey quoted from Kontan.co.id, the Real Sales Index (IPR) grew by 7.7% year on year throughout December 2018, which means that people become more consumptive at that moment. Traders and producers of goods then use this.

During the peak season, sales of most business sectors will indeed increase; during the holiday season, people tend to spend their time on consumptive activities, whether it's buying food out, going to places of entertainment, traveling, or shopping in shopping centers. So this peak season is undoubtedly the time that business people have been waiting for. However, if you as a businessman do not prepare yourself to welcome this peak season well, many buyers will ignore you. So that it doesn't happen to you, apply the following 5 operational management tips.

Restock goods

Check the availability of the items you have. Also, check how many variants or choices. If you feel the stock is low, make a purchase immediately, Inventory back what items have been a favorite of your customers, Maximize that potential. Are there items that need to be sold out immediately or at a big discount? Finally, research what items are currently trending in your business sector.

• Is stock still available?
• What about the most best seller items?
• Are there items that immediately sell out or with massive discounts?
• Are there any items that currently trending in your business sector?

E-Book

13 Vital Considerations In Quality Management - for Manufacturing Industry

FREE Download >

Review the effectiveness of the movement of goods

Once you have an inventory of items, review the effectiveness of their movement. Next, review the process of going in and out of goods into your store, whether it has been effective or not. Finally, is there a step that slows down your transaction process. For example, buyers queue too long because there is only one cash register, so the solution is to add a cash register.

Create an effective and efficient goods movement system to make it easier for your workers and customers to carry out their activities. Also, make sure your store is physically ready. Replace or repair your shop fixtures and ornaments. If the wall paint looks dull, then repaint it. If the lighting is deemed less than optimal, replace it with a brighter lamp and the proper lighting position. Make sure physically, and systemically your store is ready to visit.

• Is there anything that interferes with the process of entering and leaving goods to your store?
• Are there things that slow down your transaction process?
• How about the long queue at the cashier?
• Is there any wall paint that has turned dull?
• Are all the lights in the store bright enough?

Prepare agile employees and an optimal work system.

Peak season will undoubtedly make your staff or employees work more extra than usual days. Given the high sales traffic, some companies even add new employees to deal with this moment. If it is deemed necessary for your company, recruit and train your new employees before the peak season begins. Please make sure they are competent in dealing with crowded situations.

Make an effective schedule where every employee can give their best performance without compromising their rights. With the proper plan, it is guaranteed that employees will provide optimal dedication. Apply strict rules, where every employee must do their job description with full responsibility.

• Are your employees ready to deal with crowded situations?
• Do you need to add new employees to deal with the peak season?
• Do your employees need more training?
• Have you reviewed the employee work schedule?

E-Book

Strategies to Reduce Employee Turnover

FREE Download >

Don't forget to rest.

Remind your employees and yourself that your body needs rest too. When working hours are over, remember to take a break because the peak season is certainly very draining of energy and mind. If you and your employees are too tired, it is guaranteed that the sales service will not run well. Excess fatigue will trigger stress, and stress will cause someone to be irritable. Would you like to be treated unfriendly as a customer? Of course not. Then create a store atmosphere that is busy but still fun so that there is no burden for your employees when doing work. What is positive for employees will undoubtedly rub off on customers.

• Would you like to be treated unfriendly as a customer?

Do an evaluation

After a long day of customer service, don't be in a rush to close shop. Instead, take the time to do daily evaluations with employees or specific employees to learn about the mistakes that occurred on that day, so they don't happen again in the future. After the evaluation, ask all employees to immediately go home and rest so that the work waiting for tomorrow can be carried out properly.

• Is the evaluation already in your peak season plan?
• Did anything bad happen during operation?
• What lessons can be learned from each of your employees?

Use a Digital-Based Operations Management Application

In this all-digital era, it's time for you to manage your business operations using a digital-based application. Nimbly Technologies is here to offer this solution. As a company leader, of course, you have high mobility, so you often don't have time to come to the office and monitor whether your business operations are going well. By using the application from Nimbly, the operational management of your business can be managed and monitored from anywhere. Of course, this will save you a lot of time and money.

• Have your business operations switched to digital?
• Are there things that can be improved if your operations are transformed to digital?

Those were 6 operational management tips and 19 questions that you need to answer in dealing with the peak season. Hopefully, you can get maximum benefits during peak season by applying these tips!

Consult the operational management of your business for free with the Nimbly team.