As an entrepreneur, you are always looking for ways to grow. To grow, you will take the necessary actions to increase revenue, enhance the product experience, and generate brand awareness. But as the business grows, logistical problems often arise. A growing business needs more storage space, but often businesses are not prepared for this. Here are some tips to help you create more space in the warehouse.
Think carefully about the storage requirements of your products
When you have different types of products, you need different storage options. Some products require a specific approach. For example, we think of food products. The first questions you need to ask yourself are whether you need a standard warehouse space or whether you need a cold room/dark space. Do you need a combination of both? Ensure efficient warehouse layout so the cold room does not take up unnecessary space.
Provide different types of storage in the warehouse
Once you have found a space, you can start setting it up. First, check how your products are packaged and how they can be stored. This is very important when choosing the warehouse layout. We often see warehouses not using the right materials. Clothing, for example, is often delivered on hangers or in boxes. Hanging clothes can easily be hung on racks. In addition, smaller loose products are often best stored on shelves. With shelves and pallet spaces, you can work upwards. This way, you make optimal use of the warehouse space. Not only shelves and pallet spaces fall under the layout, but also warehouse bins for storing loose materials.
A well-organized warehouse therefore has multiple storage options. If you only have one storage option, logistical problems will automatically follow. If you store small materials on a shelf instead of in a stackable bin, the warehouse will quickly fill up. In this way, the available warehouse locations are quickly occupied, and you will hit the imaginary limits of the warehouse. Efficiently using storage options like pallet spaces, shelves, and stackable bins creates a lot of extra space in the warehouse.
When storing special products, you need to develop a custom storage method. This is not an easy task, but it is absolutely necessary if you want to make efficient use of the available space! Be sure to check out our case study on ‘Creafoam.’ In that case, we show how we store products with special sizes at Webship.
Use the available space in the warehouse efficiently
There comes a point when your warehouse gets full, even though you have the right layout. Then you need to look for a solution. Many entrepreneurs immediately think of a new and larger warehouse, but that is not always the right solution. A new and larger warehouse is often not immediately available and requires a large investment. The geographic location is also an important factor in deciding whether or not to choose a new warehouse. However, there are often still options to create extra space in the current warehouse. The space occupied by shelves and stackable bins is not very high. Too high shelves make picking inefficient.
At Webship, a fulfillment center, we encountered the same problem. Our location was optimal, but our warehouse had become too small. We had a large space with shelves. After some brainstorming sessions, we decided to create a platform in our warehouse, doubling the capacity of our shelves. The platform was built above the shelving area. Such a platform creates an extra level, resulting in a lot of extra space.
A Fulfillment Center
Investing in warehouse layout or an extra platform may not be feasible for every business. Renting or investing in a warehouse often takes up a large portion of the available budget. Startups are likely familiar with this situation. As a startup, it is very likely that you cannot fully fill the warehouse with products, but you still have to buy or rent the entire space. Fortunately, there is a solution for this! If you let a fulfillment center manage your inventory, you only pay for the space your products actually occupy in the warehouse. Additionally, picking and packing will be done by the fulfillment center. This brings expertise into your business, and you can benefit from favorable shipping rates.
As an entrepreneur, you specialize in your products and need to focus on growing your business. Many entrepreneurs have no experience with logistics, which leads to mistakes. Mistakes in inventory management or during picking and packing lead to unhappy customers! With a fulfillment center, these mistakes are minimized, resulting in more satisfied customers. Want to learn more about fulfillment? Contact Webship at hallo@webship.be or use our cost price calculator to calculate your all-in fulfillment price.
