The Importance of Accuracy in Pick and Pack Processes

Whether you handle the pick and pack process in-house or outsource it, accuracy is paramount. Mistakes will always be made occasionally – we’re only human, after all – but keeping these to an absolute minimum is crucial for all involved (from suppliers through to end customers).

It’s easy to get tunnel vision and focus too much on productivity. Sure, productivity is important, but it’s no good picking tonnes of items if many of them end up being incorrect. Any improvements to productivity must be balanced out by similar improvements to accuracy, or you could be in for a serious headache when incorrect orders arrive on customers’ doorsteps.

In this article, we’re going to run through the consequences of inaccurate pick and pack processes and take a look at what can be done to minimise the risk of mistakes being made. Let’s get started.

Why is accuracy so important?

Put yourself in a customer’s shoes for a moment. You place an order online, you sign for it and then, upon opening the box, realise that you’ve not been sent the item(s) you’ve paid for. This can have a significant impact on the customer’s confidence and willingness to choose you in future.

Even if you resolve the issue quickly and they’re satisfied with the outcome, it’s inconvenient for them nonetheless – and this inconvenience could quite easily lead to them turning to a competitor. If these kinds of mistakes happen often enough, they may even lead to negative online reviews, harming your company’s reputation. All of this is bad news for the long-term health of your business.

And that’s just the start of it. Inaccurate pick and pack processes will have direct consequences for your bottom line, too. Sending out the wrong item, arranging a return, checking its condition and restocking it all costs money, and it harms productivity too. While your warehouse team is busy restocking items that were sent out erroneously, they could instead be picking and packing new orders. Reduced productivity can lead to backlogs, particularly if your company is growing.

How to resolve inaccurate pick and pack processes

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution here; every company is different, so it’s hard to say how your processes could be improved without conducting a thorough review of them. This is where we’d recommend starting.

If your in-house warehouse team is overwhelmed, you could always outsource a proportion of your pick and pack work to a specialist company. Our outsourced pick and pack services have helped hundreds of businesses get on top of their order volume, facilitating future growth and keeping customers happy. Discover more about what we do today, or get in touch with us for pricing information.