Ecommerce Warehouse: The Engine Powering Your Online Sales

Where do you store inventory?

Do you store your stuff at home or in a rented space? Maybe in a warehouse you lease? As an online seller, storing your goods right is super important. If you manage your warehouse well, you save cash and time, and your customers stay happy.

Often, though, folks forget about sorting out storage and focus on more fun startup stuff. Stick around to find out why storing goods for online sales matters and what you can do about it.

What is Ecommerce Warehousing?

warehouse for ecommerce is storing physical goods before selling them online. It involves keeping products safe and tracking where they are, when they arrived, how long they’ve been in stock, and how many are available.

What is Ecommerce Warehouse Management?

Ecommerce Warehouse Management system means:

• Training and guiding warehouse workers.
• Handling stock, gear, and safety.
• Keeping in touch with shippers.
• Making sure products are safe.
• Guessing shipping and staff needs.
• Getting permits and licenses.
• Growing with the business.
• Following safety rules.
• Tracking daily shipments.
• And more.

It takes lots of time and work to manage ecommerce warehouses well. Still, some businesses insist on doing it alone. Find out why below.

Why Many Ecommerce Warehouse Are Garages or Living Rooms

When you started your online shop, did you think about that list? For lots of sellers, the answer is no. That’s why you might see garages, living rooms, or basements stuffed with stuff.

Business operates from home.

If your whole online hobby lobby ecommerce warehouse runs from home, it’s smart to store stuff there — at least in the beginning. That way, you can watch your stock, pack and send orders from home, and get new stuff delivered right to your door. But as you get more orders, you’ll need more stock, and you might end up swamped with boxes. Get More Info Ecommerce Warehouse.

Warehousing costs too much.

If your whole online business runs from home, it’s a good idea to keep things there first. That way, you can watch your stuff, pack orders at home, and get new items delivered to your door. But as you get more orders, you’ll need more stuff, and you might end up buried in boxes.

Owners feel they’re too small to outsource.

Many small ecommerce warehouse automation might not know they can use warehousing for their online shops. If a business is too small to own or rent its own warehouse, there are other choices, like using a third-party service. Small businesses might not know they can do this, thinking it’s only for big stores.

Benefits of Warehousing Your ecommerce warehouse Products

Warehousing helps all sizes of online shops. Here are four good things about using outside warehousing for your stuff.

1. Ship to your customers faster.

Because of Amazon Prime, online buyers want their orders fast and cheap every time they shop online. When deciding where to keep your stuff, think about spreading it out to warehouses all over the country. This can make it closer to more of your customers, so their orders get to them quicker (and cheaper).

2. Better organization of products.

Warehouses store stuff, but your home isn’t made for that.

Using ecommerce data warehouse can make tracking inventory more accurate and prevent losing items.

With a good warehouse management system, you can keep an eye on inventory turnover and know when to order more stuff.

3. Less stress.

Ecommerce Warehouse goes way beyond shelving products; taking the laundry list of warehousing responsibilities off your plate can be a huge relief. A more organized process and knowing that your products are in good hands can make a huge difference.

(Having room to park in your garage again doesn’t hurt, either.)

4. Time savings.

For online sellers, time is precious. Not having to waste time searching through piles of stuff or figuring out where to put it all lets you focus on growing your business. Often, the time saved can balance out the costs of warehousing; because time is money.

What Happens Without Ecommerce Warehouse Management

If you store stuff at home or rent a warehouse, things can get messy if you don’t have the right systems in place. Here’s what can happen without proper warehouse management:

1. Inventory gets lost.

An ecommerce warehouse system helps you know where each product is on your site. Without it, things can get lost, especially as your business and product range grow.

2. Wrong inventory gets shipped.

If you’re not careful with your stock, you might send the wrong stuff to customers by accident. This can make new customers not want to come back and make loyal ones leave.

Investing in warehouse management can make customers happier and help you make more money.

3. Storage runs out.

A lot of small businesses run out of space at home for their stuff. For example, Noel Churchill from Rainbow OPTX faced this problem as his sunglasses brand grew:

“My garage was packed — we couldn’t even fit another person. I thought about renting a warehouse, but since our business is seasonal and needs more space and staff every year, I decided to find a partner for 3PL.” – Noel Churchill, Owner and CEO of Rainbow OPTX

4. Stock-outs or over-purchasing inventory.

Good ecommerce warehouse management helps you know how much stuff to keep in stock. If you don’t have enough, you might miss out on sales. But if you have too much, you might end up with stuff you can’t sell anymore.

Having too much stuff can also mean spending too much on storage. Managing your stock levels wisely can help you use that money elsewhere.

Ecommerce Warehouse With a 3PL

One way to make your online store’s supply chain smoother is by getting help from a third-party logistics (3PL) provider. With a 3PL, you can handle all your online store’s logistics through one partner, like warehousing, managing stuff, filling orders, and more.

Here are some good things about letting a 3PL handle your online store’s stuff and orders.

1. Ecommerce integration.

Lots of 3PLs team up with big online store platforms like BigCommerce. When someone buys from your online store, the info goes straight to the 3PL’s warehouse or where they pack orders. Then, they get the order ready and send it to the customer from there.

This connection also makes sure the number of items in stock is always right in both the 3PL’s system and your online store.

2. Ship easily on major marketplaces.

Apart from online shops, some 3PLs also team up with big online markets. If you sell on places like Amazon, eBay, or Walmart, you can link your orders and stock automatically. It’s really handy if you sell in different places — you can manage everything through one provider and software.

3. Order tracking.

Once your 3PL sends an order, tracking info goes back to your online store and gets shared with the customer. This keeps your customers updated from when they order to when it arrives at their door.

4. Inventory management.

Since they store and ship your stuff, a 3PL can handle inventory for you. That means keeping track of how much stuff you have, ordering more when needed, and predicting how much you’ll need in the future.

Lots of 3PLs have inventory software to make things easier. This software helps you get ready for different levels of demand and sales by watching trends and past patterns.

5. Scale with your growth.

As your online shop gets bigger and you get more orders, you’ll need more space to keep your stuff and more people to handle filling orders. Working with a 3PL means you have space to grow — in real life and your business.

The co-founders of FLEO shorts, a workout clothes brand, found out the hard way why it’s important to pick a 3PL that can grow with you:

“Before ShipBob, we used a place to send our stuff that just couldn’t keep up with us. Since we switched to ShipBob, we’ve grown by 30% every year, which shows how well they can grow with us, their service, and their tech. I’m glad we found ShipBob when we did.” – Carl Protsch, Co-Founder of FLEO

6. Faster order fulfillment.

Because of Amazon Prime, customers want fast and free delivery no matter where they shop online. If you’re sending stuff from home or a rural area, fast delivery can cost a lot. You either have to pay for it yourself or make your customers pay. It’s not a great situation.

But if you choose a 3PL with lots of places to keep stuff, it can really help. Storing stuff in centers closer to customers means orders have less far to go, so shipping is quicker and cheaper.

Final Thoughts

In all the excitement and stress of running an online store, ecommerce warehouse can get forgotten. It’s a key piece of the ecommerce warehouse puzzle and can make a big difference to your bottom line.

Good inventory and warehouse management for your online store can help you save money and time while meeting customer expectations. Whether you store inventory in-house or partner with a 3PL, keep the tips and strategies in this post in mind for a better warehousing experience.

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