Ultimate BFCM Fulfillment Guide

Believe it or not, the holidays and peak season are right around the corner, and for omnichannel brands, everything is riding on it. Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) and BFCM fulfillment can make or break the year.

With this in mind, brands are turning their eyes to the warehouse right now, and for good reason. Peak season success hinges on fulfillment readiness; inventory accuracy, scalable operations, smart shipping strategies, and responsive customer communication.

And while BFCM is only a short window of time, there’s plenty that goes into it. From forecasting demand and positioning inventory to scaling labor, packaging, and shipping capacity, everything is compressed into just a few critical days. By preparing ahead and leaning on proven fulfillment frameworks, brands can capture peak-season demand without sacrificing speed, service, or profitability.

The long and short of it? Now is the time to get a firm handle on BFCM fulfillment.

Why fulfillment matters most during BFCM

Customer expectations in today’s ecommerce and omnichannel environment are already high thanks to the rise of next-day and same-day delivery windows. But at no other time are those expectations higher than during the holidays.

Consider the fact that the 2024 holiday shopping season drove $241 billion online, rising 8.7 percent over the 2023 holiday season. Heading into the 2025 holiday season, Deloitte predicts ecommerce to grow between 7 and 9 percent year over year, holding pace with 2024.

Customers want fast, reliable shipping, and when they don’t get it, they go elsewhere. Poor fulfillment during the BFCM season means lost sales at the very least, and brand damage at the worst. On the other hand, when brands get the right packages to the right customers (and on time!), they stand to gain a long-lasting relationship.

Pre-BFCM planning: Getting your foundation right

While BFCM remains a few months away, now is the time to plan for BFCM fulfillment. A good starting place is a deep dive into forecasting, aiming to dial in order expectations. With the stats in hand, it’s time to align inventory.

Forecasting must be accurate, right down to the SKU level. This will help avoid risky stockouts, ensuring customers can get what they want, when they want it. Alongside inventory accuracy, the warmup period to BFCM should include end-to-end warehouse preparation and labor planning. The available labor pool continues to run short, with the potential to make BFCM fulfillment more challenging than ever.

Technology and integration

The backbone of ecommerce fulfillment is an ecommerce platform, which serves as an operational hub for online retail transactions. To successfully carry out BFCM fulfillment, brands must sync these platforms with their fulfillment systems and software. These often include sophisticated automation tools that help reduce manual errors and improve speed. When ecommerce platforms and fulfillment systems work in harmony, companies can achieve real-time order tracking and visibility for both brands and their customers.

Smart shipping strategies for peak season

As BFCM kicks into high gear, the focus shifts to multi-node fulfillment to ensure fast delivery and reduced costs. A multi-node fulfillment strategy ensures brands have multiple warehouses, or nodes, across the country or region. In addition to using multiple nodes for storage and fulfillment, companies should turn to multiple carriers to avoid bottlenecks and speed delivery to customers. With regional hubs in strategic locations, brands can optimize last-mile delivery, gaining efficiencies and cost savings in the process.

Customer experience through fulfillment

When customers are in the gift-giving season, they want to know where their packages are and when they will arrive. They expect fast, transparent shipping, and when they get it, customers develop loyalty to the brands that deliver. And because not every gift is the right size, color, or item, brands must facilitate easy, clear return policies and management. Brands that understand the importance of seamless returns and deliver on it can expect to see those same customers during the next BFCM season.

To get there, businesses must communicate all details of orders to their customers. This includes order confirmations, tracking updates, and delivery notifications. Without this transparency, customers may not return.

Operational resilience and scalability

Even with a good deal of planning and forecasting, brands are often hit with unexpected and sudden surges in demand. When that happens, it’s essential to draw on a contingency plan. A good one will include backup carriers and a strategy for increasing labor quickly.

When a product suddenly takes off during BFCM, brands need the agility to respond without letting customers down as well. That means having real-time visibility into inventory and the ability to quickly reallocate stock across channels or fulfillment centers. Building inventory contingency plans, such as safety stock for hero products or flexible agreements with your 3PL, ensures that retailers can ride the surge instead of scrambling. Inventory readiness and operational agility turn what could be a supply chain bottleneck into a sales win.

In short, brands should prepare for surges, delays, and unforeseen challenges along the way, too. The pandemic is a good example of how an unexpected challenge turned the supply chain on its head. Supply chain and fulfillment software offers visibility, helping brands pivot with the onset of unexpected events.

Customer success story: Loisa X WSI

When Latin American food brand Loisa saw over 10x growth in retail purchase orders per month, WSI was up for the challenge. This growth was made possible through transparent, two-way communication that aligned demand forecasting and labor planning, a robust retailer onboarding process to ensure flawless compliance with strict requirements, and real-time visibility through WSI’s technology platform. Combined with optimized picking, packing, and shipping tailored to Loisa’s products, WSI provided the operational foundation that empowered Loisa to scale confidently while maintaining 100% order accuracy and damage-free deliveries.

Post-BFCM strategies: Turning peak into long-term growth

All the same tools and strategies that allow brands to weather BFCM fulfillment have widespread applicability for managing long-term growth. When the dust settles after peak season, brands can put software tools to use by analyzing fulfillment data for long-term, continuous improvement. The insights found in peak season periods can be very helpful for the remainder of the year. After all, if a brand can find success with BFCM fulfillment, it stands to reason they can carry that throughout the year, and even through periods of growth.

Post-BFCM analysis allows for another opportunity, too: strengthening customer relationships. When a brand can meet or exceed customer expectations during the holidays, there’s ample opportunity to turn those customers into repeat business. They learn they can depend on a brand at the most important time of the year, and smart businesses parlay that into long-term, lasting relationships.

WSI for your BFCM fulfillment needs

As BFCM approaches, it’s never too early to get a plan in order. The key to success with BFCM is the right approach to fulfillment. That means having the right inventory on hand through accurate forecasting. It also means robust software that can handle the job. BFCM fulfillment success requires the right strategies, the right customer communications, multi-node warehouse networks, and the ability to scale on a moment’s notice.

All those requirements can be tough to manage alone. That’s where an experienced third-party logistics partner comes into the picture. The experienced team at WSI knows how to help brands thrive through the rush of BFCM and beyond, building off that momentum right into the new year.

Ready to get BFCM fulfillment ready? Talk to a WSI expert today.