Warehousing and Logistics: Building a Streamlined Supply Chain for Success

Where do you store inventory?

Do you store it in your living room or garage? In a leased in-time logistics and warehousing space? With a third-party provider?

As an online seller, jit warehousing and logistics is a vital part of your supply chain. Effective e-commerce warehouse management can save you money and time and keep your customers satisfied.

But often, planning for warehousing and storage gets overlooked in favor of more exciting pre-launch tasks. Keep reading to understand why e-commerce warehousing and logistics companies are important — and what you should do about it.

What is Warehousing and Logistics?

advantage of warehousing and logistics is storing physical goods before selling them online. It involves safely storing products, tracking where they are, when they arrived, how long they’ve been in stock, and how many there are at any time.

What is Warehousing and Logistics Management?

Warehousing and Logistics management refers to daily warehouse operations, including (but not limited to!):

• Training and managing warehouse staff.
• Managing inventory, equipment, and safety.
• Building and maintaining relationships with shipping carriers.
• Keeping products secure.
• Forecasting shipping volume and labor demand.
• Obtaining certifications and licensing.
• Scaling operations as the business grows.
• Keeping up with proper safety regulations.
• Recording daily inbound and outbound shipments.
• And much, much more.

Lots of time and resources are needed for good e-commerce warehouse management. However many businesses still try to do it all themselves by keeping e-commerce warehousing in-house. Keep reading to find out why.

Why Many Warehousing and Logistics Are Garages or Living Rooms

When you started your online shop, did you think about the list above?

For many sellers, the answer is no. This often leads to garages, living rooms, and basements filled with stuff from top to bottom. Get More Info on warehousing and logistics.

1. Business operates from home.

If your whole online business runs from home, it’s a good idea to keep products there — at first. This lets you watch your stuff, 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 stuff on hand — and you might end up buried in boxes.

2. Warehousing costs too much.

For small businesses, using e-commerce warehousing might cost more than it’s worth, especially if you want full control over your warehouse. Renting or buying warehouse space can be expensive. If you sell many different things, you need even more space, which can make it even pricier.

3. Owners feel they’re too small to outsource.

Many small businesses may not realize they can use Warehousing and Logistics for their online shops. If a business is too small to buy or rent its online store warehouse, there are other options instead of keeping stuff in the garage or living room, like using a third-party service for warehousing. Sellers might not know that smaller businesses can use options like this, not just big stores.

4 Benefits of Warehousing Your E-commerce Products

Warehousing and Logistics can benefit e-commerce businesses of all sizes. Here are four benefits of using external warehousing for your products.

1. Ship to your customers faster.

Because of Amazon Prime, online shoppers want their orders fast and cheap every time.

When choosing where to store your stuff, think about spreading it out to different warehouses across the country. This can put your stuff closer to more customers, so it doesn’t take as long (or cost as much) for their orders to get to them.

2. Better organization of products.

Warehousing and Logistics are for storing things. Your living room, garage, and guest room aren’t.

E-commerce warehousing can help you keep better track of what you have and avoid losing things.

With the right warehouse system, you can see how quickly things are selling and order more before you run out.

3. Less stress.

Warehousing and Logistics involve more than just putting products on shelves; having someone else handle all the warehousing tasks can be a big relief. A more organized system and knowing that your products are well taken care of can make a big difference.

(And having space to park in your garage again is a bonus.)

4. Time savings.

For online sellers, time is precious. Not having to waste time searching through stuff or organizing storage lets you focus on growing your business. Often, the time you save can make up for the costs of warehousing; time equals money, after all.

What Happens Without Ecommerce Warehouse Management

If you keep stuff at home or rent a warehouse, things can go wrong quickly without the right systems in place. Here’s what can happen without proper warehouse management:

1. Inventory gets lost.

A system for managing your online shop’s warehouse keeps track of where each type of product is stored. Without this tool, things can get lost, especially as your business and product range grow.

2. Wrong inventory gets shipped.

If you don’t keep a close eye on what you have in stock, you might end up sending the wrong things to your customers by accident. This could make new customers not want to come back and make loyal ones leave.

Investing in managing your Warehousing and Logistics can make customers happier and help your business make more money.

3. Storage runs out.

Lots of small businesses run out of room at home to store their things. For instance, Noel Churchill from Rainbow OPTX had this problem as his sunglasses business grew:

“My garage was packed — no room for anyone else. I could’ve rented a big space and grown, but because our business gets busy at times, needing more people and room each time, I decided to find a 3PL partner.” – Noel Churchill, Owner and CEO of Rainbow OPTX

4. Stock-outs or over-purchasing inventory.

Strategic online store storage management helps you determine the right amount of stuff you should have in stock. Not enough stuff can mean running out of things to sell online and missing out on sales. Having too much stuff can mean being stuck with stuff you can’t sell because it’s old.

Having too much stuff can also mean spending too much money on storing it. Managing your staff levels wisely can help you spend your money better.

Warehousing and Logistics With a 3PL

One way to make your online shop’s supply chain smoother is by getting help from a third-party logistics (3PL) provider. They can handle everything from storing your stuff to managing your orders, all in one place.

Here are some good things about letting a 3PL take care of your online shop’s storage and order handling.

1. Warehousing and Logistics integration.

Lots of 3PLs can link up directly with big online shops like BigCommerce. When someone buys from your store, the order details go straight to the 3PL’s warehouse. Then they pack it up and send it to the customer.

This connection also makes sure your stock levels are automatically updated between the 3PL’s software and your online store.

2. Ship easily on major marketplaces.

Some 3PLs can connect not just with online shops but also with big marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, or Walmart. If you sell on these sites, you can sync your orders and stock automatically. It’s handy if you sell in many places because you can manage everything through one provider and software.

3. Order tracking.

Once your 3PL sends out an order, they send the tracking details back to your online store and share them with the customer. This helps keep your customers updated from when they buy something to when it reaches their door.

4. Inventory management.

When you team up with a 3PL, they handle storing and sending your stuff, so you don’t have to worry about managing inventory. That means keeping track of how much you have, getting more when needed, and guessing how much you’ll need in the future.

Lots of 3PLs offer software to help with this. It watches trends and past sales to help you figure out how much to keep in stock.

5. Scale with your growth.

As your online shop gets bigger and you start getting more orders, you’ll need more space to keep your stuff and more people to help manage sending it out. Using a 3PL can make sure you have room to grow both physically and in terms of your business.

The folks who started FLEO shorts, a brand for workout clothes, found out the hard way how important it is to choose a 3PL that can grow with you:

Before ShipBob, we used a place to send out our orders that just couldn’t keep up with us. Since we switched to ShipBob, our business has been growing by 30% each year. That’s because ShipBob can grow with us, and they give us great service and use good technology. I’m really glad we found ShipBob when we did.” – Carl Protsch, Co-Founder of FLEO

6. Faster order fulfillment.

Thanks to Amazon Prime, people expect fast and free delivery for their online orders everywhere they shop. But if you’re sending stuff from home or a faraway place, quick shipping can cost a lot. You’re stuck either paying those big costs yourself or making your customers foot the bill. It’s a tough spot to be in.

But here’s a tip: If you pick a company with lots of Warehousing and Logistics, it can help you ship things faster and cheaper. By keeping your stuff in places closer to where people live, your packages have less distance to travel. That means they get there quicker, and it won’t cost as much to send them.

Final Thoughts

Warehousing and Logistics Running an online shop can be busy, and sometimes we forget about the importance of storing our goods properly. But it’s super important for our online business and can help us make more money.

If we manage our inventory and warehouse well, it can save us a lot of time and money, and keep our customers happy. Whether we keep our stuff in our place or work with another company to store it, we should remember to follow the advice in this post for a better warehousing experience.

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