Start A Business Without A Warehouse: Use A Fulfillment Center

Anybody who has ever thought about launching a new business knows that there are a lot of obstacles that need to be overcome before you can even get started. One of the major hindrances to new businesses entails shipping and warehousing. Traditionally, business people needed sufficient space to store enough stock of whatever goods they produced or sold. They also needed to hire staff to store, handle, pack and ship this merchandise. Building, buying or renting a warehouse, along with hiring the required number of workers to run the operation could often be too costly for most growing businesses. At one time, launching a business without a warehouse was unthinkable.

Eliminate the Expense of Opening & Operating a Warehouse

In today’s world of business, however, a solution has been devised. You no longer need your own warehousing facilities, and shipping and order pickers to be able to launch a new business any more. As an alternative, you can contract a fulfillment center or drop shipping service. A fulfillment center will take care of most or all of your warehousing and shipping requirements, saving you not only valuable labor costs, but also the cost and inconvenience involved with running your own storage facilities.

A Fulfillment Warehouse Allows You to Focus on Running Your Business and Forget About Shipping

There are numerous advantages to starting a small business without having a warehouse, some of which are more obvious than others. New businesses receive instant benefits by being able to concentrate on what they do best, producing and marketing high quality products that ensure a reliable client base. Their shipping, inventory, packing and warehousing requirements are left to people who are very skilled and knowledgeable about these aspects of running a business. You save time by using a fulfillment center, and you also save money in labour costs.

A Fulfillment Center Gives you Versatility

But there are also additional advantages to using a fulfillment center which you may not have considered. First, with a fulfillment warehouse you only pay for the storage space you use, rather than having a sizeable warehouse that stands empty and over staffed half the time. Utilizing a fulfillment center allows you greater flexibility concerning how much space you use with the changing needs of your business. If you do want more space, you won’t have to build another building; rather, you can just lease additional space when needed. Additionally, you will enjoy tremendous savings in your shipping costs by virtue of enjoying bulk rates long before your company’s shipping would normally be eligible for such savings.

A Fulfillment Center Can Secure Better Rates

Fulfillment centers can help you cut your shipping costs in a number of ways. First of all, fulfillment centers purchase shipping materials (like boxes, tape and envelopes) in bulk quantities, making them eligible for discount rates. In many cases this saving is passed down to you, the customer. Secondly, courriers offer fulfillment centers a much better rate than you would expect to pay as a new business. This is because they ship many more parcels than a typical new business does. As fulfillment centers take care of shipping for such a large number of companies, they can negotiate a cheaper per package price from courriers such as FedEx and UPS. Yet again, much of these savings are passed on to you, the business owner.

If you consider the many savings you can realize when launching your new business without a warehouse, it makes perfect sense to contract a fulfillment center. Leave the shipping and handling to those that do it best, and you can spend your time doing what you do best: developing your small business.

Jeff Ehrlich is the President of FulfillmentPlusNY which delivers pick pack and ship operations for a diverse group of companies globally.Contact Jeff for order processing services.