As your business continues to grow, it can become more and more difficult to keep up with your warehousing needs. While all you may have needed when you first started out was your living room and some packing tape, there comes a stage in your business’s life where, in order to grow, you must begin to consider alternatives to doing everything yourself.
One way to do this is to outsource your warehousing. There are occasions where it makes sense to outsource your warehousing, and occasions where it doesn’t. Some people move too soon, while others move too late. If you’re thinking about outsourcing your warehousing, you want to be sure that you’re making the right move at the right time. You have a lot to consider if you want to make a successful transition. There are a wide variety of reasons to make the transition to a provider for this service. Before you make the final decision, however, here are a few things you should consider first:
Cost
No matter what the business, cost is typically the first factor to be considered. If you’re outgrowing your previous space, but not at a place where you can run your own warehouse, outsourcing your warehousing is probably going to be the most cost-effective solution.
When searching for a warehouse, ask for details about the warehousing costs. Ask about additional services, or what it will cost if you need additional space during busy times of the year for your company. Calculating all these factors can really help narrow down your choices, and identify if you are in a financial place to outsource your warehousing.
Location
When evaluating warehouses, location can be an important factor, especially if you tend to run your business operations locally. Ideally, your warehouse would be in a location that makes sense for the types of deliveries that need to be made, as well as for any inventory that needs to be kept in the warehouse.
This will ultimately come down to creating a logistics plan to ensure that the warehouse location you are considering will actually benefit your business and not hinder your operations.
Additional Services
Most warehousing providers will also offer fulfillment services. This means that they can handle your entire fulfillment process from start to finish without you having to lift a finger. From assembly to kitting to delivery, these services don’t just benefit you, they also benefit your customers by quickly and efficiently fulfilling their orders.
Looking into these additional services may be a huge time saver for you as you continue to propel your business to success, without having to fulfill all your company’s deliveries yourself.
Agility
If your business takes a hit or sees an increase in orders over peak seasons like the holidays, it is much simpler for you to leave this to a third-party provider than to attempt to handle fluctuations in business in-house.
Outsourcing your warehousing gives your business the agility it needs to expand or reduce space and resources without creating a financial strain on your business. The flexibility and agility to change is a powerful incentive for outsourcing your warehousing. In fact, some providers even allow you to enjoy a short term warehouse lease, perfect for your one-off needs.
Costs are tight in fulfillment, meaning you have to save money wherever you can. If it’s difficult to pinpoint where to cut costs, consider outsourcing your warehousing and distribution as a catch-all solution to save money. Orbit Same Day has the answers you are looking for and here are some reasons why outsourcing can be the cost-efficient answer.
Reduced Capital Investment
You might have the desire to do your own warehousing or own your own warehouse/storage unit, but with the fees for warehouse and fleet management, security, temperature controls and other related costs, you may want to think twice. Having a third party handle it for you can save you money on all these charges.
Eliminate Labor Issues
When you do your own warehousing, labor costs and personnel issues come with the territory. This can prove to be both a professional and financial headache. In these instances, you’re better off having another company with a positive reputation and related experience to handle it.
Increase Customer Satisfaction
Whenever you take on more work for yourself, you increase the chances of making a mistake. Regardless of the type of error, you will be held responsible, damaging the reputation of your business. Instead, focus on areas where you’re skilled or that need more attention, and leave the rest up to another warehousing company. Outsourcing your Warehousing needs will ultimately increase overall customer satisfaction due to the increased reliability/professionalism.
Fluctuations in Seasonality
There will be multiple rush periods during the year, the most notable being Christmas. And whenever a rush hits, you have to train and pay additional employees, as well as pay to rent any necessary gear. Then, when the rush ends, you have to get rid of both the temp workers and the gear. A good warehousing and distribution company, however, will have the means to handle these chaotic periods for you…all with necessary personnel and in-house tools.
Experience and Expertise
You know what you’re good at within the bounds of your business, but you also need to be realistic about your weaknesses. Even if you get ambitious and try to improve the likes of your internal warehousing solutions, you are going to spend a lot of money and/or time doing so. On the other hand, a professional warehousing firm already has the technology and personnel in place, as well as the required expertise. Ask yourself, how reliable is your courier service and warehousing center?
No Worries about Warehouse Security Issues
There are numerous health and safety compliance matters that need to be addressed when running a warehouse. This includes elements like specialist training, certifications, equipment availability, and other matters. Health and safety are understandably important and highly justified, but implementing the various measures required can feel extremely cumbersome alongside other managerial tasks. Outsourcing warehouse fulfillment operations gives you access to the third-party’s own specialists and its existing safety infrastructure. Even if, for some odd reason, they aren’t already in compliance with safety rules, the methods for correcting this are already in place and can be harnessed more easily.
Flexibility on Warehouse Leasing Terms
Many businesses have seasonal fluctuations in customer demand or may otherwise see their inventory needs wax and wane throughout the years. When running your own warehousing operation, this can lead to situations where you are left paying for shelves that either hold slow-moving stock or are left empty because there simply isn’t enough customer demand to justify their use. Outsourcing your warehousing to a third party helps alleviate this matter since you will only be paying for the space you actually use. This means you can easily scale your storage space up and down throughout the year without having to worry about wasted funds.
Most Suitable Distribution Location
Every business ships to different customers, but the needs for warehousing and distribution-center locations are generally consistent. Ideally, you want easy access to major highways, ports, airports or large urban areas in order to minimize the amount of time it takes to get products from your warehouse shelves to the customers. Third-party warehousing companies tend to have their premises in locations that are perfect distribution points for businesses to use, with this strategy in mind. Outsourcing lets you take advantage of these ideal locations for more efficient distribution arrangements.
Reduces Cost of Purchasing Additional Warehousing Equipment
A lot of attention is given to the fact that outsourcing your warehouse fulfillment needs lets you save on space and property costs. However, outsourcing also means you don’t need to spend as much on all of the associated equipment. Pallet racking, safety barriers, mezzanine floors, forklift trucks and more are often already on hand and provided by the warehousing company to whom you’re outsourcing. Since each of these elements require regular maintenance and servicing—operations with their own associated costs in and of themselves—some companies have found saving on equipment alone to be enough to justify outsourcing.
Lets You Focus on Your Core Business
Your business is in retail, e-commerce, export or some other sector of the economy. This is where your livelihood comes from, where your attention is most needed and where your managerial skill is most effective at growing your operations. Simply put, you are not in the warehousing business and you should not have to invest so much of your time managing what is effectively “secure storage space” for your products. Being able to delegate warehousing tasks to a third party not only frees up funds that can be reinvested into your business, it also lets you redirect your time and energy into your main operations.
When looking to outsource your warehouse needs, look to Orbit Same Day has the answer. We are reliable, flexible and cost effective. We meet the above criteria every single time. Each of our Richmond VA Courier Service facilities is temperature monitored and secured. When you have your products stored with Orbit Same Day, you can rest assured that we are caring for them like they are our own.
