Absorbing 5x Sale-Season Fluctuations with 99.8% Same-Day Shipping ｜ Meito Inc. Case Study
Maintaining a 99.8% Same-Day Shipping Rate Even at 5x Sale-Season Order Fluctuations
Flow Diagram — Apparel Peak Handling & Demand-Surge Absorption
Normal vs. sale-season 5x shipping fully absorbed through two-tier staffing
Case Overview
For an apparel e-commerce client running four major sales per year (spring, summer, autumn, winter), shipping volume during sale periods swelled to 5x normal levels, and with their in-house warehouse and existing 3PL, a same-day shipping rate dropping below 60% had become the norm. Customer churn and complaint posts on social media had become serious management challenges.
The Client's Challenges
- Sale-season shipping volume at 5x normal, same-day shipping rate below 60%
- Soaring labor costs due to overtime-dependent operations
- "When will it arrive?" inquiries from customers overwhelming customer support
- The high SKU count characteristic of apparel (30–50 variants by color × size)
Our Proposal & Response
Securing a Dedicated Area at Meito's Osaka Nanko Logistics Center × Phased Staffing
Of the 12,000 ㎡ Nanko Logistics Center, approximately 1,200 ㎡ was secured as a dedicated area for the client. To suit the high-SKU nature of apparel, multi-picking by color × size was optimized within the WMS. During sale periods, we built a two-tier structure of 20 in-house dedicated staff plus 80 temporary staff assigned only for the sale period, fully absorbing the surge of 5x peak demand.
- Shortest workflow paths in the 1,200 ㎡ dedicated area, 2.4x picking speed
- Flexible staffing of 20 in-house dedicated staff + 80 temporary staff
- Multi-picking by color × size optimized in the WMS
- API integration completes order → shipping instruction within 5 minutes
Results
| Item | Before | After | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Same-Day Shipping Rate (Sale Season) | 60% | → | 99.8% |
| Peak Handling Multiplier | 1.5x is the limit | → | Full support up to 5x |
| Inventory Turnover Rate | 1.0 | → | 2.4 |
| Shipping Cost / Unit | Baseline | → | Baseline -30% |
Client Testimonial
Since switching to Meito, we've been freed from the fear of "not being able to ship in time" during sales. Internally, we can now concentrate our resources on product development and promotional planning, and as a result our annual sales have grown 1.4x.