How to optimise warehouse picking for Black Friday

For e-commerce and logistics operations, Black  Friday Week is one of the highest sales periods of the year, generating a massive volume of orders in a very short time. As a result, warehouse and fulfilment teams must be fully prepared.

Your warehouse setup — including your pallet rack system, shelving height, and racking uprights — must support efficient, error-free operations. This is particularly important in fast-pick zones, where roller track systems or pallet live racking may be implemented to support live pallet racking workflows.

Black Friday began in the United States as a major retail event following Thanksgiving, traditionally marking the start of the holiday shopping season. Now, it has expanded globally, including in England and Ireland, stretching from the Monday before Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

Like other high-volume sales periods, Black Friday Week places enormous strain on logistics and warehouse operations. Order surges stress picking, packing, delivery, and returns processes.

Asking yourself these questions can help you to start your optimisation process for Black Friday:

• How can order picking be made more efficient?
• Which warehouse systems can best handle e-commerce peak periods?
• What processes can be automated to scale operations?

Manual warehouses scale with added labour and picking trolleys or shelf trolleys, but temporary staff can introduce errors due to limited training. For this reason, goods-to-person automation can reduce reliance on labour, while rack trolleys and roller track systems can boost ergonomics and throughput.

Ask yourself:

• How can order picking be made faster and more reliable?
• Which warehouse systems support e-commerce peak demand?
• What aspects of your operation can be automated or semi-automated?

The right combination of people, process, and racking equipment (such as cross bracing, column guards, and boltless rack systems) ensures safety, scalability, and speed.

Automated warehouse systems significantly improve performance during peak times. They offer:

• Faster order processing and increased throughput
• Lower error rates
• Scalable and ergonomic processes using the goods-to-person principle (as opposed to the labour-intensive man-to-goods method)

While full automation may not suit every e-commerce operation due to SKU diversity and order size, partial automation — using AMRs, cobots (collaborative robots), and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) — can dramatically enhance scalability and accuracy.

To optimise performance, minimize these picking time elements: base time, travel time, picking time, idle time, and distribution time.

In goods-to-man systems, which may have RFID transponder technology, explore these popular methods:

• Pick-by-light
• Pick-by-voice
• Pick-by-terminal
• Pick-by-MDE
• Pick-by-point®

Of these, pick-by-voice is particularly effective during high-volume periods. Voice-guided, paperless picking allows staff to work hands-free, focus fully on the task, and reduce errors.

For manual (man-to-goods) systems, fast-moving items should be stored near picking stations. Predictive inventory planning and WMS-driven optimization ensure:

• Inventory is organized by demand level and product class
• Route optimization is automatically applied
• Time-consuming searches are avoided

For semi-automated operations, flexible barriers and perforated panels can be used to define safe work areas around AMRs or AGVs. Combining smart zoning with shelving clips and adjustable shelving depth helps increase pick density in peak zones.

Single-stage picking is a picking method used for lower order volumes or simpler operations, tat picks entire orders at once, either sequentially or in parallel.

Two stage, or multi-stage picking in a picking method that is ideal for high order volumes with few items per order, common in e-commerce. Orders are grouped into batches based on item type, picked collectively, then sorted and packed afterward.

Advantages of two-stage picking:

• Fewer touchpoints per item
• Optimised travel distances
• Efficient for >1,000 orders with low SKU count

Two-stage picking is often paired with sorters and automated systems, which, while costly, offer high efficiency returns. 

AI-based forecasting tools analyse historical sales data and seasonal patterns to predict demand and optimise stock levels. 

Benefits of AI-driven warehouse planning:

• Accurate sales forecasting using past data
• Anticipation of seasonal trends
• Compensation for demand volatility
• High service levels through calculated safety stock

This ensures that your warehouse is well-prepared to meet peak season and Black Friday demand — without overstocking or underdelivering.