Does Your Operation Need a Contract Warehouse?

Many small business owners are effectively outsourcing greater and greater portions of their companies to create a ‘lifestyle business’ or entrepreneurial ‘muse.’ Essentially these business are bootstrapped at the lowest possible cost before operations are systemized and outsourced to create passive income for the business owner. One of the key steps in this process for businesses that sell physical products is to outsource distribution to a contract warehouse.

With a dedicated contract to a warehouse or fulfillment company, you can outsource all product handling and order fulfillment so that you can focus solely on growing your business. Most fulfillment houses are located centrally within your market to achieve the lowest possible delivery time to your most remote customers. Your warehousing partner can even manage inventory levels and reorder product straight from the manufacturer.

Orders can be received online and fulfilled by the competent and highly-trained warehousing staff. Delivery will then be scheduled for maximum cost effectiveness to the consumer. Should there be any problems with an order, most fulfillment operations offer a customer service department to handle complaints.

Imagine not having to worry about or ever even physically see and touch your products. All operations regarding the movement of your products can be completely automated allowing you to focus on sales and strategy until even this can be outsourced. Contract warehouses are the ticket for making your passive income dreams happen.

Since they often serve multiple clients, a warehousing provider can significantly defray his costs and pass that savings on to each client. Outsourcing logistics is always far more cost-effective than attempting to build and maintain these same systems in house. A warehousing provider has already absorbed the costs of industrial space, labor, and security measures. They are often staffed with teams of highly educated transportation engineers who work together to increase the efficiency of operations, and provide world-class service to both their clients and their clients’ customers.

For more information on how you can use contract warehousing to outsource your product handling operations, click here now!

5 Benefits of Contract Warehouses

A contract warehouse helps companies and entrepreneurs store inventory, supplies, raw materials, or any other good in a central location for maximum transportation efficiency. Since the warehouses are centrally located, they can be easily transported to nearly any destination in the contiguous U.S. It also allows businesses to outsource the costs of both space and labor associated with storing inventory. In order for businesses to succeed, many are taking advantage of outsourcing much of their operations to third parties. You are guaranteed to reduce your overhead costs and increase your bottom line by outsourcing your warehousing needs. Here are five benefits:

1. Services: Many warehouses offer a variety of services to cater to manufacturers and distributors. Whether you need packaging services, inventory control and management, local transportation, or ongoing maintenance and quality control, a contract warehouse can offer these services. The larger warehouses even offer fulfillment and customer relationship services. For many business owners, that means they can completely outsource operations so they can focus on strategy and building their business.

2. Cost: The difference in the cost of holding your goods in a contract warehouse versus a private warehouse is enormous. By taking advantage of serving multiple clients, a contract warehouse can make better use of their assets, namely, warehouse space and loading docks. This allows them to carry lower overhead costs, and those cost savings are then passed on to their clients.

3. Fees: In many public and private warehouses, the lessee is required to pay storage fees and loading and unloading fees anytime they ship goods. A contract warehouse can offer services at lower costs, and can often work with you to find the right combination of services to fit your budget.

4. Control: On the spectrum of warehouses, private facilities offer complete control with a the highest cost, similar to buying a house. A public warehouse is more like leasing an apartment, giving you little control. The contract warehouse serves up the perfect compromise between control and cost. This allows many small businesses to outsource their inventory holding and product fulfillment costs, so they can focus on generating more revenue and other business critical tasks. 

To reduce your warehousing and inventory control costs, check out the many great contract warehouse services available at PerimeterLogistics.com!