For many companies wanting to pick products quickly, arranging by SKU/article number is still the way to go. There is no need to scan and check location of products. This is useful for fast moving products. Staff do not need to waste time to scan and check location. Different staff can find the location of a product easily.
This usually mean more work at putaway to create space for running number SKU/article number replenishments. For ease of picking, the trade-off in putaway is something most companies live with.
What is interesting is most companies put the smallest SKU number right inside, at top-most corner. Although there is a structure (type of product, colour, size, launch, design, etc...) in their SKU/Article number, the way that they locate their product does not reflect on the sales patterns. If location of product base of higher sales is near the backroom door (rather than just depending on how it lands up by putting the smallest SKU/article number at the beginning), picking will be faster, and probably safer too.
There are different ways to reflect sales trends in the backroom. You can order by type of products, launch, and even sizes (middles sizes easier to reach). Do this to cater to different sales profile at different stores.
