How flex workers can help retail & logistics businesses navigate seasonal demand surges successfully.

As the festive season approaches, the pressure is on for retail and logistics companies to meet skyrocketing demand while continuing to deliver great customer experiences. From busy store aisles to packed delivery schedules, businesses need to scale their workforce quickly to meet peak season demands and maximise profitability.

Situation: Retail and logistics companies face staffing challenges during peak seasons.

For businesses in the retail and logistics sectors, the holiday season can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it brings in a surge of customers and orders, driving up revenue. On the other hand, it presents a workforce dilemma: more staff are required quickly to handle the dramatically increased demand. As shoppers flood stores, couriers are pushed to their limits, and warehouses struggle to keep up with order fulfillment. It’s crucial to have enough qualified staff available to keep up with the peak season crunch. 

However, after backlash from business leaders, Labour indicated in May that it would no longer be an outright ban. Mohammad Jamei, Director of Economic Policy at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), told the magazine Business Matters the view that “Any proposed changes to employment laws must be balanced against the potential loss of opportunities. Businesses need to be able to take risks to open new premises and grow without excessive concerns about significant changes in employment law.”

Other business leaders have expressed fears that companies that were highly seasonal would be negatively affected by restrictions on hiring flexible staff.

The party altered its language around the subject and began to specify that only “exploitative zero-hours contracts” would no longer be allowed, with a focus on removing “one-sided flexibility”. The definition of exploitative is currently unclear, as is the context in which zero-hours contracts would still be permitted.

It seems that going forward, businesses would now be obligated to offer a contract based on a set number of hours, but workers would be able to choose a zero-hours contract if preferred. The party also said this would protect seasonal workers whose jobs might otherwise be affected.

If zero-hours contracts are outlawed or limited in the UK, we estimate that these changes will particularly affect hospitality and logistics businesses.

High street retailers: 
Last-minute holiday shopping surges & extended store hours

The number of shoppers in stores typically surges during the holiday season, particularly between Black Friday and Christmas. In 2023, footfall across UK retail high street locations saw a 10% increase during Black Friday week, compared to the week prior, with some stores seeing over 50% week-on-week rise. Many customers will make last-minute shopping trips causing a sudden increase in the need for cashiers, stock room workers and customer service staff to manage long queues, keep shelves stocked and ensure a smooth shopping experience.

Many retailers extend their store hours during the holidays, offering late-night shopping opportunities. Extra workers are essential to cover these shifts and manage seasonal promotions, all while ensuring store security and cleanliness. These micro-peaks occur throughout the holiday season and are either an opportunity or a risk for retailers depending on how well prepared for them they are, ahead of time. 

eCommerce & logistics: Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales

The annual spikes in online orders during Black Friday and Cyber Monday put eComm supply chain and logistics companies under pressure. In 2022, global consumers spent a record-breaking USD 9.2 billion online. Warehouses experience big backlogs of orders, and delivery fleets are stretched up to and beyond capacity. Flex workers will be needed to pack, sort and dispatch orders to meet tight delivery windows. 

Retailers and eComm: Managing returns after the holidays

Once the holidays are over, a flood of returns begins. Warehouses and logistics providers face another peak as returned items need to be processed, restocked and sometimes reshipped, requiring additional temporary workers. With 43% of UK consumers paying for their Black Friday returns in 2023, processing returns efficiently becomes essential for maintaining customer satisfaction.

Requirement: An agile workforce – driven 
by a mix of permanent and flexible staff. 

All of these inevitable scenarios put significant pressure on your permanent workforce, often leaving them overstretched or unable to handle demand without assistance. 

Hiring additional permanent staff may seem like the obvious solution, but what happens to the new hires when the season ends? This leaves companies scrambling to balance the need for immediate staffing against the risk of overstaffing once the holiday rush subsides. 

Seasonality and unforeseen events, such as illness or large orders on short notice, mean 
that companies can be understaffed or overstaffed. Without a flexible staffing strategy, these factors make it difficult to maximise profitability. A flexible staffing strategy has the advantage that staff and associated costs can be flexibly adapted to fluctuating demand. 
This means you don’t lose revenue during peak periods, but also avoid overstaffing – and thereby overspending – during periods of lower demand. 

By strategically dividing staff into “permanent”, “temporary” and “flexible” categories, companies can actively manage their workforce and adjust it as needed. Permanent employees form the core of the team and ensure business continuity. Temporary staff support day-to-day business. Flex workers complete the workforce during times of increased workload.

Staffing for seasonal peaks.

Retailers and logistics companies often need to ramp up staffing during peak seasons, sometimes for weeks or months. Managing recruitment, onboarding, and payroll for these temporary workers can be time-consuming, especially when resources are already stretched.

Last-minute staffing for micro-peaks.

During busy weekends or major shopping days, retailers often need extra staff with little notice. Managing these micro-peaks with your existing team can lead to burnout and staff churn, while handling recruitment and payroll for short-term hires can be cumbersome.

Coople’s pool of 400,000 workers.

Coople provides access to a large pool of skilled workers that you can hire on a planned temporary basis to support you all the way through peak seasons. Coople manages the entire process – from sourcing and onboarding to payroll and offboarding – so you can focus on planning and serving customers. When the season ends, you’re not left with permanent staff to offboard or make redundant. 

… including a super-flexible workforce.

With Coople, you can tap into the same pool of skilled workers on a flexible, last-minute basis – for anything from a few hours to a week. Coople handles all admin, letting you focus on managing the customer surge without overburdening your core team.

Key advantages of using Coople:

Flexible staffing with Coople

Planning for seasonal peaks is just the start. Coople supports both seasonal and micro-peaks, with access to a network of 400,000 workers. Whether you need staff for the entire peak season or last-minute cover for a busy weekend, we’ve got you covered with high-quality, professional workers.

We handle everything from recruitment to payroll and offboarding, and can fill your open shifts within hours—faster and easier than traditional hires. You decide the duration—be it a month, a day, or just a few hours.

Once you’ve built a trusted pool of flexible staff on our platform, you can respond to any surge in demand quickly and efficiently.

With Coople, your business is ready for anything the holiday season brings—whether it’s last-minute shopping sprees, warehouse rushes, or a surge in online returns—without the long-term commitment of permanent hires.

Get in touch

Ready to learn more? Reach out to one of our relationship managers today to see how Coople can help you seamlessly navigate the holiday rush.