Many people assume a business should operate its own warehouses. There are plenty of reasons, however, to consider using third-party warehousing services. Decision-makers should consider these 5 scenarios that favor a third-party solution.
Limited Sales
Not every business sells enough units to justify the investment in a full-on warehouse. If you sell a small number of items that don't ship frequently or quickly, warehousing services can keep your costs down while providing storage and availability. You can trust the warehouse operator to maintain safe and clean storage in a limited space. Also, they can typically scale up the available space as necessary if demand grows.
Seasonality
Some businesses don't need to maintain warehouses throughout the year. This makes keeping a warehouse questionable. For example, a pool product company might only see surges in sales in late spring and early summer. There just isn't much argument for the company to store lots of inventory for the rest of the year. Paying for an empty warehouse during those months isn't economical, either. Rather than dealing with the extra overhead, the pool company might use outside warehouse services to manage demand peaks.
Poor Warehousing Availability
Many regions don't have lots of warehousing readily available. If your business is in an area where competition for commercial real estate is intense, you may not be able to find a way to build or buy a warehouse if you want one. Working with a warehousing services provider solves the problem. You can usually find a company with warehouses close to your location, too. Whenever you need to collect products, you can send an employee to go get them from the warehouse.
Startups
If you're starting a business, you may not be prepared to make the investment of constructing or purchasing a warehouse. Rather than committing to an asset with high maintenance costs, a startup might use warehouse services. Once you've firmly established your brands and products, you can always move to a long-term model. In the meantime, you can keep costs and commitments under control.
Building and Staff Quality
Warehousing isn't just stuffing items onto shelves. You have to maintain a building and pay staff to operate it. This can lead to quality issues. Some businesses elect to abandon warehousing their own goods if they find they have quality issues with their buildings or staff members. A third party can focus on simply doing the job well, leaving you to develop your business.
Speak to a company that offers warehousing services, such as Affordable Moving Company, to learn more.
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