iForce quadruples workforce for the peak season

iForce, the fastest growing supply chain business in the UK, is almost quadrupling its workforce to ensure its retail clients can enjoy a prosperous peak season.

The company will expand its workforce from its permanent number of 750 colleagues to around 2600, taking on around 1,850 temporary warehouse colleagues to reinforce operations ahead of increased activity during Black Friday and in the lead up to Christmas itself.

With analysts predicting that Black Friday is set to become the UK’s first ever £1bn online shopping day, iForce expects to despatch around 146,000 items on that one day alone, which represents a year-on-year rise of 23.5%.

The additional warehouse colleagues will be spread across iForce’s operations with each one undergoing an initial two-day induction programme delivered by iForce’s dedicated Training Academy. This will include instruction on how to process the 450,000 item returns that iForce estimates will flow from this year’s Black Friday sales alone.

During its peak season iForce’s core focus will continue to be centred on offering three fundamental business services: Fulfilment (iForce Gateway), Returns Processing (iForce Revive) and Carrier Management (iForce Pathfinder). Each of these three core services is underpinned by bespoke software, which has been developed over 17 years of managing challenges within the evolving modern commerce marketplace, and can be tailored to fit the requirements of any brand.

Brian Gaunt, CEO at iForce, said:

“iForce has invested millions of pounds in its proprietary software over the years, which allows the Company to manage both multi-channel fulfilment and returns processing efficiently and effectively, whilst also offering a tried and tested carrier management solution.

For several months we have worked very closely with our clients to forecast peak volumes and to develop specific plans to deal with both Black Friday and Christmas in the most effective manner. We are confident that this preparation together with the significant investment in our workforce will help our clients to enjoy their most profitable and successful peak season to date.”