Managing peak season is inevitable for retailers. Consumers generally spend more throughout November, December and over Christmas. The period is chaotic, yet opportunistic with the promise of profits. Shoppers take advantage of the various sales available online and offline, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, with inflation and the cost of living continually increasing, a challenge that many high-street and ecommerce retailers face this year is uncertainty around exactly when peak will ‘peak’, and how long the wave will last for.
Irrespective of this uncertainty the underlying technology infrastructure - that is supporting bricks n’ mortar retailers, ecommerce retailers, and the wider related logistics and supply chain network (e.g., third-party logistics providers and fulfilment centers) - must operate productively without glitches. Neil Baker, Head of Auto-ID Sales for Northern Europe, BIXOLON explains the important role that label printers and receipt printers play in keeping productivity high, while supporting the drive to profit over Christmas.
Optimism through uncertainty
The UK’s Office For National Statistics points out that retail sales increased in September. Naturally this is positive news. However, many consumers have financial concerns weighing on their minds as they plan Christmas spending. For example, the BRC-Opinium (British Retail Consortium) conducted fieldwork in October about consumer expectations between October and December. It discovered that consumers expect their financial situation to worsen; but that despite these expectations, their personal spending on retail will increase.
But it’s not just consumers who are feeling the pinch. Retailers have been impacted by several macro-economic factors too. Rising inflation, hikes in national living wages and National Insurance contributions, and operational costs (e.g. energy) are areas for concern. Notwithstanding these operational worries about consumer spending, an optimistic viewpoint from VoucherCodes forecasts there is £92.12bn up for grabs from mid-November through to the end of December; and it says the UK is set to enjoy a growth rate of 3.2%.
Therefore, businesses across the retail supply chain - ranging from ecommerce hubs, fulfilment centres and third-party logistics providers, through to bricks n’ mortar retailers - must ensure their logistics and payment operations are up to scratch, stress tested, and ready for the season. Label and receipt printers are often overlooked and understated workhorses here. Yet, during these busy periods they are often depended on day in and day out. So, are they still fit for purpose? Are they robust, fast, reliable? Are they prepared for the season ahead?
Ecommerce Warehouse Precision and Pace
During the peak season, the scale and speed of fulfilment required to meet consumer demands places immense pressure on every stage of the supply chain. Within ecommerce and supporting distribution warehouses complete synchronicity must be ensured across operations to ensure goods can be processed and dispatched efficiently to deliver today’s ‘Amazon experience’.
Label and receipt printers support shopfloor operatives daily as they execute their tasks and take goods into the warehouse or fulfil orders. Every product travelling through the warehouse and exiting it needs to be identifiable, trackable and routed accurately, or accompanied with a receipt within ecommerce scenarios. Label and receipt printers provide this traceability and proof of purchase daily for brands, and they need to be reliable and hardwearing.
For instance, labels are often printed and placed on goods to indicate where they need to be stored in warehouses. Address labels indicate where parcels need to be delivered to, and receipts provide proof of purchase for consumers. But without reliable printers to print clear and readable labels or receipts, these entire operations can be brought to a complete standstill, something many retailers cannot afford over Christmas. Moreover, there are many kinds of printers. At packing stations, stationary printers can be used for label and receipt printing. Whereas mobile printers are a popular choice too, and allow operators to print labels on the go, to support instances where goods are awkwardly shaped or too bulky to fit at packing stations.
Within warehouses linerless label printing has proven invaluable too. Appropriate printers print labels without the glassine release liner. Within busy warehouse environments this saves time on peeling and sticking labels down, and reduces waste. RFID printers are also increasingly popular within many warehouse and retail situations. RFID helps ensure real-time, accurate inventory management and traceability when good/labels are connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). RFID labels can be coded to help automate inventory management, and provide an accurate view of stock from purchase and delivery, to arrival at stores or shoppers’ front doors.
The Retailer’s Frontline: Frictionless and Fast
This need for productivity and efficiency is also needed on the retail frontline. Take this scenario. Product markdowns are often required over the Christmas period within retail stores and across many supermarkets, especially for fresh food pricing markdowns. This is where direct thermal labels, printed via mobile printers can support operational efficiency. The task of updated pricing labels can be printed in the same location that many products are located and stored. By enabling pricing to be updated accurately in real-time, retailers can stay competitive during peak trading. It also means they don’t need to be removed from shelves and transported elsewhere for updates.
Consumers expect fast service at tills over Christmas. It’s a busy time and people want to get in and out of stores quickly at times, especially when it’s time to pay for goods. This means desktop receipt printers at checkout need to be robust and ready for peak season. Are till roles rolls easy to change without major disruptions to productivity? Can they print receipts, additional sales vouchers and discount/loyalty coupons fast? Additionally, can retailers’ and supermarkets’ self-service kiosks manage peak season queues? With the trend towards self-service growing, kiosks are increasingly depended on to push more sales through stores. Like their desktop counterparts, can they offer the same level of printing quality, support and functionality?
At times POS checkouts staffed by humans and machines can be inundated with shoppers. So, occasionally retailers introduce mobile POS options at tills and allow shoppers to pay for goods while in queues. Enabling this functionality requires a mobile POS system that is supported by mobile receipt printers. These kinds of printers also need to be reliable, but they need to be lightweight, compact and easy to carry. They also support the many pop up stores that emerge over Christmas, and enable these kinds of retailers to take advantage of peak too.
Conclusion
The operational efficiencies created during labelling and POS by modern label and receipt printers unlocks another great benefit for retailers. They improve customer experience all round - within ecommerce warehouses and on shop floors - and help to deliver a frictionless customer experience. Further, with this kind of equipment running smoothly and effectively, shop attendants are readily available to provide shoppers a much-appreciated personable experience, ready to answer questions, while keeping the stock tidy on the shop floor at all times.
With retailers across the UK gearing up for the final quarter of 2025 there is a mix of cautious optimism and concern. One thing is certain, though, technology-led efficiency will form a vital part of the answer for those wishing to deliver and maintain high levels of service across their warehouses, fulfilment centres and on shop floors. Finally, regardless of when exactly ‘peak’ hits this season, without the right technology supporting staff and customers, it might be just a little bit more difficult for retailers to take advantage the festive season in the way they hope too.