Reduce Those Footsteps

In a busy warehouse, every extra step a picker takes is wasted time and energy. Over a shift, over a week, over a year—these small inefficiencies add up. The goal? Reduce walking distance.

There are several areas to work on when wanting to speed up picking, but reducing the length of a walk route is a key one:

How to Cut Down Walking Time:

🔹 Cluster Similar Products Together – If two items are frequently picked together, store them next to each other. Don’t make your pickers zig-zag across the warehouse.

🔹 Move High-Frequency SKUs to Prime Locations – If an item appears on 50% of pick sheets, it should be near the start/end of the main pick route, not hidden away in an inconvenient aisle.

🔹 Keep Promotional Free Gifts in the Natural Flow – If you’re running a promo that adds free gifts to orders, position these items where pickers already walk. Don’t force them on a detour for a 50p giveaway.

🔹 Regularly Audit Walk Routes – Walk a full picking cycle yourself. See where inefficiencies creep in. Even a few adjustments can save thousands of footsteps per day.

Every unnecessary step costs time and money. A few simple tweaks to pick paths and stock positioning can make a massive difference.