Budgy Smuggler Scales Black Friday Fulfillment with Descartes Peoplevox

Budgy Smuggler is an Australian swimwear and apparel brand known for its distinctive designs and Australian-made swimwear. As order volumes increased, its warehouse operation needed to keep pace, particularly during busy peak periods. 

Before implementing Descartes Peoplevox™, the team relied on a manual process that involved selecting orders, moving the information into Excel, reformatting it, printing pick lists, and picking from paper. Budgy Smuggler moved to a barcode-based warehouse management system (WMS) to create more structured warehouse workflows and prepare its operation for higher volumes. 

“The Descartes system helps us be more precise, more accurate, and it does take a lot of tasks off my back with the automations that are happening. So, I highly recommend it.” 

- Giovani Matte, Warehouse Manager, Budgy Smuggler

Budgy Smuggler’s previous warehouse process required several manual steps before picking could begin. The team selected orders in Starshipit, transferred them into Excel, reformatted the information, printed it, and then picked using paper lists. 

As order volumes increased, the team needed a more efficient way to manage warehouse activity, particularly during peak periods. Moving away from spreadsheets and paper provided a more straightforward process for picking and other warehouse tasks. 

With Peoplevox in place, Budgy Smuggler moved away from printed pick lists and introduced barcode-based processes across its warehouse. 

Scanning provides an important safeguard during everyday warehouse tasks. When an employee attempts to put an item in the wrong location, the system alerts them.  

The team has also adjusted how employees move through the warehouse. Instead of repeatedly moving back and forth, pickers can follow a more efficient sequence through locations. The change has already delivered a measurable improvement. 

For Nathan Linforth, Operations Manager and Strategist at Budgy Smuggler, the impact on warehouse performance was clear. “It boosted productivity so much! It’s been fantastic.”  Black Friday performance showed an even broader improvement, with the operation processing 60% more orders while requiring 20% less additional staffing during peaks. 

Batching provides another way to organize picking efficiently. The system can identify orders containing the same products and group them into a batch. This allows employees to collect multiple units while working within the relevant warehouse area. 

The team can also organize work around order footprint and location sequence. This helps pickers work on groups of orders located close to one another rather than potentially completing a full warehouse loop each time. 

Automation is taking more routine work off the warehouse team’s plate as well. Actions can be automated, reducing the amount of manual work required to manage warehouse activity. 

The workflows are also straightforward for new employees to learn. When discussing a recent group of new starters, the team estimated that employees could begin basic picking within a couple of hours. Over the course of the day, they were also able to work across goods-in and goods-out processes. 

During Black Friday, Budgy Smuggler processed 60% more orders than previously, demonstrating the additional volume its warehouse operation could handle during peak.

Budgy Smuggler processed higher Black Friday order volumes while requiring 20% less additional staffing during peak periods.

Budgy Smuggler processed approximately 1,800 orders on its biggest Black Friday day, up from around 1,100 previously. 

New employees can start basic picking within a couple of hours and gain experience across goods-in and goods-out processes during their first day.