To understand what dynamic put away is, you need to consider first what customers have come to expect from e-commerce today. A simple hypothetical illustrates this well. You are off to bed, making one last stop at the bathroom before you put your head down, but as you’re making the visit, you suddenly notice that your toilet paper stock has been reduced to one alarmingly thin role at the bottom of the pack. So, what do you do? You whip out your smartphone, do a bit of tapping, and, tomorrow, the bell goes and there’s a delivery of twenty-four new rolls right on the doorstep.
This type of rapid, next-day delivery is essentially a wonder of inventory management – that all-important part of eCommerce that businesses of all sizes are aiming to optimize. Such speedy next-day delivery is also pretty standard now among the big eCommerce sites.
Accordingly, customers have come to expect it; it’s a service they hope to make use of on many occasions. And while this is something pretty much beyond the reach of the smallest eCommerce ventures, it is something that should be a goal if you have any kind of growth in mind. And finally, it’s something made possible by dynamic put away.
What is Dynamic Put Away?
So, what is it? And how does it make this possible? The answer to these questions is sure to surprise. Far from being a super sophisticated form of inventory management organized by complex software that tracks and puts products exactly in their correct place, dynamic put away is the process of putting items wherever in the warehouse they can fit.
That is really all there is to it. It seems to run counter to all the good advice about inventory management – the strict, careful, algorithm-managed tracking systems and so on. Really, dynamic put away is plopping something, as it comes in, where it can fit with the understanding that it will be very quickly on its way.
It should be noted here, however, that dynamic put away is not always an option for some smaller eCommerce businesses. For example, dynamic put away requires a certain infrastructure and trained staff. It works with a system of barcodes and handheld scanners and fairly complex software to ensure that just putting things where there is space doesn’t take up space that is needed for scheduled inventory.
Naturally, with a small eCommerce venture, warehouse space is at a premium, and good inventory management means balancing the space you need with the costs required for it. This means that many smaller eCommerce ventures simply do not have the option of leaving spare space around to be filled by overnight orders. Olympic Eyewear, suppliers of men’s and women’s wholesale sunglasses, advise that for such regular orders, designated space is in any case wise.
Nevertheless, growth for eCommerce ventures is always towards attaining the type of service that can offer next-day or same-day delivery – and dynamically put away is one of the best ways of facilitating this. That means it should be a goal.
Further Benefits of Dynamic Put Away
Many still think that dynamic put away has the potential to run into problems. Indeed, without being done properly, it can. The best way to think about it is as a means of making the warehouse more agile and, yes, dynamic. It involves the most efficient use of warehouse space, ensuring no space is being left simply unused. Indeed, once it becomes an option, any eCommerce business would be wise to engage in dynamic put away. That way lies real success.
