Peak Predictions: What’s in Store for 2025: Part 3
Peak season is more than trends, demand, and deadlines; it’s about execution. And execution requires the right partners. This article is Part Three of our 2025 Peak Season Predictions eBook, focused on how working with a 3PL can give brands the scalability, speed, and resilience they need to thrive during retail’s busiest stretch.
Working with a 3PL to get ready for peak season 2025
Helen Keller said it best: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Strategic partners are critical to peak season success. And a 3PL partner plays a central role.
Brands that haven’t opened the conversation with their 3PL by this point should reach out immediately.
Why working with a 3PL for peak is necessary
An experienced 3PL will set retail brands up for peak season success. They can help plan and prepare inventory, fulfillment, and reverse logistics operations for:
- Demand surge readiness: 3PLs can quickly scale operations to handle spikes in orders.
- Omnichannel fulfillment: Meet consumer expectations for BOPIS, fast shipping, and flexible delivery.
- Speed to customer: Nationwide networks and localized warehouses ensure faster, cost-effective delivery.
- Risk mitigation: 3PLs offer contingency plans for inventory, shipping delays, and carrier disruptions.
- Cost efficiency: Shared resources reduce per-order fulfillment costs and optimize storage.
- Retail compliance: 3PLs understand unique retailer requirements and can track on-time, in full (OTIF) performance.
- Marketplace readiness: A 3PL can prepare brands for peak season marketplace demand by ensuring compliant packaging, accurate labeling, optimized inventory allocation across fulfillment nodes, and fast integration with marketplace systems to meet strict SLA and Prime/express delivery requirements.
Steps for planning and prepping with a 3PL partner
Ensure your 3PL partner is set up for scalability, adaptability, and responsiveness this peak season. Some of the steps to take are:
Step 1: Start early
Brands and 3PLs should lock in capacity, forecast demand, and align as early as August. By completing this step by late summer, last-minute bottlenecks are avoided. Moreover, brands that secure warehouse space and transportation earlier have leverage in rate and service level negotiations while late planners risk higher costs and missed sales opportunities. When taking actions early, it leaves time to address unexpected supply chain disruptions, from port delays to tariff changes, without derailing peak season timelines.
Step 2: Integrate systems
Although a brand’s tech stack should already be fully incorporated with its 3PL’s warehouse management system (WMS), any outstanding integrations should be done immediately. This ensures real-time visibility into orders, inventory, and fulfillment status. Without seamless integration, errors such as overselling or delayed order processing can quickly snowball during high-volume periods. A connected system allows for automated updates, communication, and faster response times when issues arise.
Step 3: Forecast collaboratively
The more information a 3PL has, the more they can do. Share in-depth sales projections, promotional calendars, product launch plans, and anything else pertinent to peak season. Every detail allows them to plan staffing, allocate storage space, and reserve transportation to align with needs. Collaborative forecasting also helps both parties anticipate spikes in demand, whether driven by flash sales, influencer campaigns, or seasonal promotions, and prepare accordingly.
Step 4: Leverage expertise
During peak season, brands should tap into the wealth of knowledge and specialized services their 3PL offers. From retail compliance and custom packaging to kitting, bundling, and reverse logistics, these expert capabilities drive better peak season performance. In a time with stricter compliance and high customer expectations, a 3PL’s experience reduces chargebacks, increases order turnaround, and provides smoother post-holiday returns.
Step 5: Stay flexible
During peak, nothing is guaranteed. This is where flexibility by both brand and 3PL become essential. Aim to be agile using various tactics, such as multi-node fulfillment to route orders based on product availability, customer location, and shipping speed requirements. Flexibility can help brands reduce delivery times, lower transportation costs, and keep orders moving. In a peak season environment where disruptions, like carrier capacity limits or weather events, are common, the ability to pivot quickly keeps you ahead of the pack.
Peak season return prep
The reality of peak season? There will be returns. Last year (2024), the NRF projected a record-breaking number of returns reaching $890 billion. Historically, these returns are due to incorrect size and fit, damaged or defective products, duplicate or unwanted gifts, or late/missed delivery.
Instead of looking at holiday returns as a burden, brands can think of them as an opportunity; a way to win brand loyalty and increase revenue. It’s all in how the reverse logistics are handled.
This makes a 3PL’s strategic network matter. The right partners—like a powerful returns management software integration—can make all the difference during the post-holiday returns frenzy. Coupled with a hassle-free returns process, retailers can make the most of what would otherwise be an operational headache.
Loop: Peak season returns – Q&A with Marco De Paulis
Q: What’s the biggest returns-related challenge brands face during peak season, and how can they mitigate it?
A: The biggest challenge for brands during peak season is the massive surge in returns, which is often caused by impulse purchases, gifting, and “bracketing”—buying multiple sizes with the intent to return some. This surge has huge implications for everything from product inventory to order fulfillment to financials and overall business health. Brands can mitigate this by preparing for the influx by providing clear policies upfront and/or implementing a consumer paid returns model like Loop’s Checkout+ to help customers make the right decisions while protecting business margin.
Q: How do you recommend brands balance speed and accuracy in the returns process without sacrificing customer satisfaction?
A: To balance speed and accuracy, brands should leverage technology and automation where possible. On the return initiation side, tools like Loop’s workflows offer many ways to automate how returns are handled in the most efficient and accurate way possible. Features like “Advanced Exchanges” allow customers to quickly swap items, retaining revenue and providing a seamless experience. For items that need to be returned to the warehouse, find ways to fine-tune your return processing, grading, and restocking operations to be as quick and accurate as possible.
Q: What are the most common mistakes you see in peak season returns planning?
A: A common mistake is a failure to prepare for the massive influx of returns that follows peak season. This can lead to increased costs and missed opportunities to resell items. Another significant error is not having a clear, easily accessible return policy, which can lead to customer confusion. Lastly, many brands miss the chance to retain revenue by not incentivizing exchanges.
Learn more about the Kase X Loop partnership here.
In conclusion
Ready or not, peak season 2025 is here. But luckily there’s still time to get your plan in place. Brands that combine strategy, preparation, and agility will be the ones that win, capturing sales, delighting customers, and protecting margins in an evolving environment.
From shifting consumer expectations and sentiments to the operational impacts of tariffs, de minimis changes, and tightened inventory windows, every decision made now shapes success when demand surges.
Align early with expert partners to execute this peak season with precision and to set the stage for sustained growth in the year ahead.
With tips and tricks for preparing with your 3PL partner, take the time to read the full eBook here for more ways to succeed this peak season 2025:
