Retail Campaign Logistics: Surviving Peak Season Without Losing Your Mind

Every year, the same thing happens. October arrives, and the retail implementation industry shifts from busy to borderline chaotic. Warehouse space that was comfortable in August is now bursting. Vehicles that were readily available in September are booked solid. Installation teams that had open diaries in the summer are now being fought over by competing campaigns. And somewhere in the middle of it all, a brand manager is sending increasingly urgent emails asking why their Christmas POS has not shipped yet.

Peak season in retail implementation — broadly October through December, though the pressure starts building in September — is the most demanding period of the year. It is when the highest-value campaigns launch, when the largest budgets are spent, and when the consequences of poor planning are most severe. Get it right and your brand dominates the shop floor during the most lucrative trading period. Get it wrong and you are scrambling to install displays on Christmas Eve while your competitors have been live for weeks.

At The Wild Axis Group, we have managed peak season logistics for brands and agencies across the UK for years. This article shares what we have learned about surviving it — and, more importantly, about planning well enough that survival is not the goal. Thriving is.

The Reality of Peak Season

To understand why peak season is so challenging, you need to appreciate the scale of what is happening simultaneously. During October and November, a typical retailer might be running:

• A Halloween promotional campaign (install early October, strip-out by 1 November)
• A Black Friday / Cyber Monday campaign (install mid-November, live for one to two weeks)
• A Christmas visual merchandising changeover (window displays, in-store graphics, seasonal fixtures — install from late October onwards)
• Christmas-specific POS campaigns for individual brands (FSDUs, counter displays, shelf-edge promotions)
• Advent calendars and gifting displays (install late November)
• A pre-Christmas sale or clearance preparation (install early December)

Each of these campaigns involves its own set of materials, its own timeline, its own store list, and its own installation requirements. They overlap, conflict, and compete for the same physical space — both in the warehouse and on the shop floor. And they all share one immovable deadline: Christmas Day.

"Peak season does not fail in December. It fails in August and September, when the planning should have happened but did not."

Planning Timelines: When Should You Start?

The single most important factor in peak season success is how early you begin planning. Here is the timeline we recommend to our clients.

July – August: Strategic planning

By midsummer, you should have confirmed the number and scope of campaigns you will be running during peak. This means finalising store lists, agreeing campaign windows with retailers, and briefing your implementation partner on anticipated volumes. At this stage, exact creative assets may not be ready, but the operational parameters should be locked down: how many stores, what types of installation, which weeks.

This is also when you should be booking warehouse space. If your implementation partner manages storage for you, they need to know how much space to reserve. If you are booking independently, bear in mind that warehouse availability in the Midlands and South East tightens significantly from September onwards as every retail and e-commerce business fights for the same capacity.

September: Operational planning

With the strategic framework in place, September is when the detailed operational planning happens. Installation schedules are built, transport routes are planned, and installer teams are allocated to specific campaigns. This is the month when your implementation partner should be confirming vehicle availability with transport partners and briefing field teams on the upcoming workload.

Critically, September is also the last realistic window for resolving production issues. If printed materials are delayed, if fixtures are not manufacturing on time, if there are design changes — September is when these problems need to surface and be addressed. By October, there is no buffer left.

October – December: Execution

From October onwards, you are in execution mode. Materials are arriving at the warehouse, kits are being built, and installations are underway. The planning phase is over. Any gaps in the plan now become real-world problems — missing materials, unavailable vehicles, understaffed installation teams — that have to be solved under pressure and at a premium cost.

Capacity Booking: The Hidden Bottleneck

One of the most common mistakes brands and agencies make during peak is assuming that capacity will be available when they need it. It will not. Every element of the retail implementation supply chain is constrained during October through December.

Warehouse space

If your campaigns involve storing materials before distribution — and almost all do — you need dedicated warehouse space. During peak, your implementation partner's warehouse is handling increased volume from every client simultaneously. If you have not confirmed your storage requirements by September, you may find yourself competing for the last available bay positions or, worse, being told that space is simply not available.

Vehicle availability

Transport capacity during peak is under enormous pressure. Not only is the retail implementation sector at its busiest, but the wider logistics industry is dealing with e-commerce fulfilment volumes, supermarket stock replenishment, and seasonal goods distribution. Next-day delivery services that are routine in June become unreliable in November. Dedicated vehicle bookings that take 48 hours to arrange in the summer may require a week's notice during peak.

"During peak season, the cost of a last-minute vehicle booking can be three to four times the standard rate — assuming you can find a vehicle at all. Plan early and book early. It is that simple."

Installer scheduling

Skilled retail installers are in finite supply. The teams who can handle overnight window installations, complex fixture builds, and technical digital signage work are the same teams that every implementation company in the country is trying to book. During peak, these individuals are often scheduled six to eight weeks in advance. If your campaign timeline shifts by even a few days, finding replacement capacity can be extremely difficult.

Managing Overlapping Campaigns

The practical challenge of peak season is not just volume — it is complexity. When you are running multiple campaigns simultaneously, the risk of cross-contamination, scheduling conflicts, and communication breakdown increases exponentially.

Here is how we manage overlapping campaigns at Wild Axis.

• Dedicated warehouse zones — Each campaign occupies its own clearly marked area within the warehouse. Materials from different campaigns are never mixed, and each zone has its own pick lists and kit specifications.
• Colour-coded labelling — Every kit, every pallet, and every consignment is labelled with a campaign-specific colour code. This makes it immediately obvious at every stage of the supply chain which campaign a particular item belongs to.
• Separate project management — Each campaign has a named project manager who is accountable for its delivery. This avoids the situation where a single overloaded coordinator is trying to manage five campaigns simultaneously and inevitably drops something.
• Staggered despatch windows — Where possible, we stagger the despatch of different campaigns to avoid overwhelming the transport network and the receiving stores. This requires careful coordination with the retailer but dramatically reduces the risk of delivery failures.

Contingency Planning: Expecting the Unexpected

No peak season plan survives contact with reality entirely intact. Materials arrive late from the printer. A key retailer changes the installation window at the last minute. Storm Eunice shuts down the motorway network for two days. A store manager refuses access because they are mid-way through a stock take.

The difference between a smooth peak season and a disastrous one is not the absence of problems — it is the presence of contingency plans.

• Buffer stock — We always recommend ordering 5-10% additional materials beyond the exact store count. Damaged items, lost deliveries, and stores added late to the campaign all consume this buffer. Without it, a single damaged kit means a store goes without.
• Backup transport — We maintain relationships with multiple transport partners specifically so that we have alternatives if a primary carrier cannot fulfil a booking. During peak, this redundancy is invaluable.
• Reserve installer capacity — We keep a pool of trained, vetted installers on standby during peak weeks. These are not untested freelancers — they are experienced operatives who have worked with us before and understand our quality standards.
• Communication protocols — When problems arise, the speed and clarity of communication determines whether they are managed or whether they escalate. We operate a clear escalation protocol during peak: issues are flagged to the project manager within the hour, the client is notified within two hours, and a resolution plan is in place within four hours.

Communicating with Stores During Busy Periods

Store teams during peak are under immense pressure. They are managing increased footfall, temporary staff, extended trading hours, and a constant stream of deliveries. The last thing they want is an installation team turning up unannounced, expecting access to a section of the shop floor during the busiest Saturday of the year.

Effective store communication is essential, and it requires more than a single email sent to a generic store address. Best practice includes:

• Advance notification to the store manager at least one week before the scheduled installation, including the date, time window, team size, and area of the store affected
• A confirmation call or message 24 to 48 hours before the visit, verifying that the access arrangements are still valid
• Clear identification for all installation team members — branded workwear, ID badges, and the name and contact number of the project manager
• A brief check-in with the duty manager on arrival, confirming the scope of work and any site-specific constraints
• A sign-off process on departure, ensuring the store is satisfied with the completed installation and any waste has been removed

"Store relationships are built or broken during peak season. An installation team that is professional, courteous, and minimal in their disruption will be welcomed back. One that leaves a mess, blocks an aisle, or fails to check in with the manager will find access much harder to secure next time."

Post-Campaign Strip-Outs: The Forgotten Phase

Every campaign that goes in must eventually come out. Strip-outs — the removal of campaign materials after the promotional period ends — are routinely underplanned and underfunded, yet they are just as important as the installation itself.

A store littered with outdated Christmas POS in mid-January does not just look untidy. It actively damages the brand's credibility and the retailer's environment. Strip-outs should be scheduled as part of the original campaign plan, with specific dates, allocated teams, and clear instructions about what happens to the removed materials.

Options for removed materials typically include:

• Return to warehouse — If the materials will be reused for future campaigns, they are collected and returned to storage. This is common for durable fixtures like metal FSDUs and digital screens.
• On-site disposal — For single-use printed materials, cardboard displays, and vinyl graphics, the installation team disposes of materials responsibly at the point of removal. This must be agreed with the store in advance, as many retailers will not accept third-party waste in their compactors.
• Recycling — Increasingly, brands require proof of responsible disposal. Your implementation partner should be able to provide waste transfer notes and recycling certificates where required.

At Wild Axis, we build strip-out scheduling into every peak season campaign from the outset. It is not an afterthought — it is a planned phase with its own timeline, resource allocation, and quality checks.

Start Planning Now

If you are reading this and your peak season campaigns are already underway, the lessons here apply to next year. The brands and agencies that consistently execute strong peak season campaigns are the ones that start planning in the summer, book capacity early, build contingency into every stage, and work with an implementation partner who has been through the cycle enough times to anticipate the problems before they occur.

Peak season does not have to be a white-knuckle ride. With the right planning, the right partner, and the right processes, it can be the period where your brand shines brightest — on the shop floor, where it matters most.