6 warehouse management challenges (and how to solve them)

Warehouse management is far from a walk in the park. But with patience, strategy and the right WMS, changes can be made – fast.



A warehouse is the beating heart of any business. But far too often, it beats out a chaotic rhythm driven by external factors and internal problems.

Your warehouse might be performing suboptimally because of inventory inaccuracy, poor use of space, seasonal spikes or order fulfilment errors. You might be battling with multiple pieces of software that won't speak to each other.

Does this sound like you? Alas, there's no silver bullet. But most of these warehouse management challenges can be improved, if not eliminated, by upgrading your warehouse management system (WMS).

A good, cloud-based WMS, you see, has one key advantage over other kinds of warehouse management, be they software-based or analogue. This is the level of visibility it provides.

In any warehouse, visibility is indispensable. And a cloud-based WMS not only provides complete visibility over all your orders and operations. It also gives you that visibility in real-time, wherever you are.

In the age of hybrid working, this is a boon and a blessing to mankind. It means you don't have to be on-site to check an inventory level or order status.

All the information you need to run a tight ship is at your fingertips, accessible via a single dashboard. It doesn't matter whether you're in your home office, in transit or in a hammock on the Seychelles.

We'd go so far as to say, in fact, that a modern WMS is as essential to your business as WiFi or electricity. Sure, you can struggle on without them. But if you want to solve these warehouse management challenges, a WMS is what you need.

1. Inventory accuracy and tracking

Misplaced items. Stock-outs. Overstocking. Errors from manual audits. All of these are unavoidable, right?

Wrong. They're only unavoidable if you rely on fallible humans rather than a highly efficient and highly accurate warehouse management system.

If you rely on humans – and if you rely on antiquated methods like pen and paper records or spreadsheets saved to your hard drive, not to the cloud.

By sticking to these old ways, you're making it harder to access the information you need. In a fast-paced world where customers expect you to be fast-paced too, this is a recipe for self-sabotage.

2. Using space inefficiently

You can't manage a warehouse effectively without paying close attention to its physical layout. A warehouse is a house for wares – and as in any house, space needs to be used efficiently.

Why? Because an inefficient use of space makes picking, packing and dispatching inefficient, too – and this is felt most of all by your customers.

On top of that, chances are you're looking to expand. To do this, you need to have storage capacity.

A warehouse management system can help with space management in a couple of ways. Many let you optimise layouts with 3D visualisation tools. Meanwhile, goods can be categorised by size and weight for efficient placement on the shelves.

3. Order fulfilment and picking errors

Your number one priority as a business is to get your goods to the right place at the right time. Yet so many businesses run warehouses that are about as well-oiled as a rusty crank.

If your warehouse is faced with slow picking, packing mistakes and delivery delays, customer satisfaction will suffer.

Most of the time, these issues are created by inadequate operational norms. Perhaps your warehouse staff are doing the rounds with a clipboard in one hand and a trolley in the other. Or perhaps the information they've been given has been scraped from more than one source.

Luckily for you, these challenges can be solved – and quickly, too. Your first port of call should be a pick-by-voice system – a headphone-and-mic solution linked to your WMS.

This reduces the whole process of picking, packing and dispatching to a series of verbal commands. By keeping staff hands free and eyes up, accuracy can be near-perfect.

4. Adapting to seasonal change

Some products maintain sales levels all year round. But in many cases, businesses experience more highs and lows than a theme park.

This is only a problem if you're unprepared. Armed with foresight and data, you can get the stock you need ahead of time.

This is possible thanks to demand forecasting. You can have someone on your team to do this for you – or a third-party consultant. But a quicker and more cost-effective method is to generate demand forecasts from a cloud-based WMS in minutes, not days.

5. Technology integration

Many businesses suffer from silo-itis – an unfortunate ailment that means data can't flow unhindered from one piece of software to another.

This is especially the case when a company has upgraded one bit of kit but not another: their ERP but not WMS, let's say.

This is where a cloud-based WMS can really come into its own. A solution like ours is built to be integrated with other platforms. The result? A clear and detailed view of all your warehouse operations – from procurement to transport, from customer feedback to dispatch rates.

6. Handling returns

No business wants to deal with returns. And perhaps at some level, this is why so many fail to put adequate measures in place to handle returns when they arise.

Handling returns is a complex topic. Your approach will depend on what proportions of returns are to be restocked, recycled or replaced.

In every situation, however, a WMS can make a difference by giving you up-to-date, real-time data in just a few clicks of the mouse. This makes your returns procedure more efficient and more accurate – and your customers more likely to order from you again.

Ready to move fast and conquer challenges with cloud-based WMS software? At Minster WMS, we provide businesses of all shapes and sizes with highly capable solutions that can be deployed in as little as 24 hours. Book a demo today to find out how we can transform your operations.