Optimising for subscription box warehousing: where to start

Do you run a subscription box warehouse? Explore 5 ways to optimise your operations in our industry guide.



All warehouses run on the same principles. Yet they're set up to fulfil a staggering range of industries and product types.

Each type of business has different requirements – and the world of subscription box fulfilment is no exception. In fact, we'd go so far as to say that subscription boxes are a uniquely complex beast.

That's because subscription box fulfilment involves a range of unique challenges – challenges that an inexperienced warehouse leader may find difficult to tackle effectively.

If you're struggling to optimise your warehouse for subscription box fulfilment, we sympathise. But we also know that all hope is not lost – for the simple reason that there are concrete steps you can take to streamline the process.

These range from picking procedures to warehouse layout, from technological fixes to strategic planning.

Here at Minster WMS, we provide cloud-based warehouse management software to businesses of all shapes, stripes and sizes. Our two main products, CORE and EDGE, can work wonders in optimising core warehouse activities like picking, packing and shipping.

But before we delve into solutions, let's first take a closer look at the problems. What are the unique challenges facing subscription box warehouses?

What are the challenges of subscription box warehousing?

For most warehouses, fulfilment is a continuous process. Orders are placed, orders are fulfilled. This means all stock must be ready – or at least available – at all times.

Subscription boxes are a different affair. Unlike standard eCommerce operations, subscription box fulfilment warehouses must assemble and ship different product assortments to a deadline. This could be quarterly, monthly or even weekly.

The first big challenge is assembling intricate kits, sometimes personalised for individual customers.

These ever-changing kits make inventory forecasting harder than usual. SKUs change, and your warehouse team has to be ready to handle those changes.

And let's not forget that all subscription box services want to avoid subscriber churn – that dark statistic that quantifies the number of subscribers cancelling their subscriptions. This means staying on top of strict shipping deadlines, no matter how complex the brief.

These challenges are real but far from insurmountable. But to deal with them effectively requires a different mindset and a different way of doing things.



How do I optimise my warehouse for subscription boxes?

There are five key ways to optimise a warehouse for subscription box fulfilment. They revolve around kitting and assembly, picking procedures, inventory management, physical layout and planning for spikes in demand.

1. Kitting and assembly

For subscription box models to survive and thrive, the unboxing experience is almost as important as the contents of the box themselves. This means you need to put extra work into kitting and assembly.

This involves assembling standardised, non-personalised boxes during quiet periods. By pre-kitting common items, you're in a better position to kit complex personalised boxes as you approach delivery day.

It also involves creating designated kitting zones for warehouse packers. All the materials needed to assemble the box should be available to staff at packing stations. That means things like filler paper, branded boxes, marketing materials and tape.

Finally, you should standardise packaging so that it's easy to pack and cheap to ship. Arriving at the right standardised packaging for your subscription box service will likely be a case of trial and error.

2. Batch picking

Most warehouses pick items for customers one customer at a time. In the context of subscription boxes, this is an inefficient way to work.

Instead, you should implement batch picking. This means you pick all items for all subscribers at the same time. Multiple orders are picked from designated warehouse zones, then grouped at packing stations and assembled into boxes.

3. Inventory

Whether your subscription boxes go out weekly, monthly or quarterly, packing will take place on specific days. This is quite unlike standard eCommerce operations, where picking and packing are continuous and daily.

For this reason, it makes sense to hold needed items for specified periods. If you ship monthly, you might hold only two months' stock. Going beyond these limits can easily lead to bottlenecks.

You should also implement reorder thresholds. This is where you calculate what you need to restock and when before packing day comes.

And finally, you should think carefully about the space your packaging takes up. After all, subscription box packaging is nearly as important as what's inside. Make sure you keep on top of packaging inventory to avoid stockouts and overstocking.



4. Layout

All warehouses need to think carefully about layout, and subscription box services are no exception.

The core products in a particular box should be put closest to packing stations. This prevents staff from making long and inefficient packing journeys.

These core products can also be placed on gravity-flow racks – sloped racks that automatically move goods from the loading end to the unloading end. Higher racks should be reserved for surplus, off-season or less in-demand products.

5. Scaling strategy

Every subscription box business wants more subscribers. But you need to be ready for when those new subscribers come.

To avoid stress, errors and inefficiencies, you may want to consider outsourcing excess fulfilment to a third-party logistics (3PL) company. This reassures you that you can scale to meet demand without your staff burning out.

How a warehouse management system can help

Deploying a cloud-based warehouse management system (WMS) is a great way to optimise subscription box fulfilment. It can automate kitting processes, manage batch-picking and provide end-to-end, real-time visibility into your inventory.

And if you integrate your WMS with voice picking, barcode scanning or a pick-to-light system, you can up your picking accuracy to near perfection.

At Minster WMS, we provide two cloud-based WMS solutions:

• CORE: a highly capable, entry-level solution that can be up and running in 24 hours. With a robust built-in feature set, it's designed for small to medium subscription businesses that want to start reaping the benefits of optimisation immediately.
• 
  
• EDGE: our enterprise product. EDGE takes a little more time to set up, but includes support for custom features and integrations from our UK development team. That makes it ideal for larger or more intricate operations where flexibility is vital.
• 
  

Want to learn more about how they can help you streamline and accelerate? Book a demo with our experts today and we'll show exactly what our solutions can do.