While the concept of warehouse storage might seem simple, it is actually a key function of any business. Warehousing affects literally everything from the time that you source your raw materials to the time orders is successfully delivered to your customers. And that pretty much covers every aspect of your business, doesn’t it?
With the ever-growing online shopping world, warehousing has become a hot topic and is more in demand than ever before. Thus, warehousing and storage are actually more important than you might give them credit for.
While the principles of warehousing haven’t changed much over the years, warehousing solutions have certainly evolved a lot. So, as a business owner, you have a lot to look out for in this area.
If you have been looking to know everything about warehouse stores and storage then you have arrived at the right place. And if you have been looking to outsource warehousing services for your business then NimbusPost is a great place to start.
What Is Warehousing?
No matter whether a business is a small or big, each and every business that sells physical goods requires a place to store them safely.
This process of storing goods or products before they get sold is nothing but warehousing. And the place where these goods get stored is known as a warehouse. However, there is more to warehousing than just storing these products.
If we talk about eCommerce, the products are stored in the warehouse until an order gets placed. After that, the product is shipped directly to the end customer.
Warehousing takes care of storing your products safely and securely, tracking where these products are stored, the number of products, when they arrived, how long they have been there, and more.
Why Do You Need Warehouse Storage?
You might think that you might just use your garage or some extra space in your house as your warehouse but that is where you could be going wrong.
- Ample Storage
While there is nothing wrong with starting small and using the extra space in your living area, what happens when you outgrow it? You will eventually outgrow it and your storage needs will increase.
- Proper organization of products
Warehouses are meant for storing whereas your garage or your home isn’t. Hence, with a warehouse, it is always ensured that your products are properly stored the way they are meant to be and in a way that won’t cause any damage to them.
- Faster Shipping
Warehouse stores can help you place your inventory across multiple warehouses that are closer to your customer. This means that your customers receive their orders faster than ever before.
- Less Stress
As a business owner, you have a lot of things on your plate. But with your warehousing and storage taken care of, there is one less thing for you to worry about. Warehousing is undoubtedly a vital aspect of any business and when you know that it is taken care of, you have more time to focus on the other aspects of your business.
What does Will happen Without Proper E-commerce Warehouse Management?
- Inventory might get lost
Without proper warehousing, there are high chances that your inventory might get misplaced. Especially as your product range grows, it gets more and more crucial to have a proper inventory management system in place.
- You might run out of storage
If you use a small space to store your inventory, you might run out of it soon. Especially if you plan on adding newer products, your inventory space will need to be bigger.
- Wrong inventory getting shipped
When you don’t track your inventory well, you run a high chance of shipping out the wrong inventory. Especially if you are dealing with a first-time customer, it is important to ensure that these things do not happen. Having proper warehousing and storage will ensure that this does not happen.
Main Components of Warehousing
- Warehouse Management
It involves the day-to-day operations that help run the warehouse effectively. It involves several things such as staff management, training, inventory management, shipping carrier relationships, safety, security, and more.
Some responsibilities that are covered under this are ensuring that the best safety practices are followed, making sure that all the goods are safely stored, managing the inbound as well as outbound shipments, managing operations, and a lot more.
2. Warehouse Operations
Warehousing operations refer to the processes that take place inside the facility. This majorly involves receiving the inventory, placing SKUs, and then delivering those products.
These operations ensure staff productivity, lowering costs, inventory is received and shipped on time, quantities available are sufficient, etc.
These also ensure that the equipment is used efficiently, storage is optimized and used effectively, and a lot more.
3. Warehouse Management Systems
A warehouse management system or WMS is actually software that provides all the tools that are necessary to manage all operations and functions related to a warehouse. It essentially acts as a warehousing solutions tool.
Such software helps eliminate the manual processes and thus, helps in saving time. So, WMS helps optimize everything from storage and order tracking to shipping and all the other operations in-between.
Benefits of Outsourcing Shipping to A Logistics Company
- Dealing with inventory can be a nightmare at times. But the best part here is that, when you outsource, the company will completely take care of your warehouse storage without you having to worry about a thing.
- Another added benefit is that you do not need to deal with packaging any boxes, shipping them, etc. Whether it is finding boxes, packing them, labeling them, or shipping them, the outsourced company will do everything for you.
- Since the forte of a logistics company is working with numerous e-commerce companies, they are used to handling unexpected issues that may arise, a large volume of shipments, negotiating with carriers, best shipping, and warehousing, storage practices, etc.
Here, we told you everything that you need to know about warehouse storage in 2023. So, are you ready to outsource warehousing and shipping for your business?
