Warehousing and inventory storage are essential pieces of your retail supply chain, affecting sourcing raw materials, efficiently managing your inventory, and getting orders delivered to customers on time.
Over the years, warehousing solutions have evolved, embracing new technologies to cope with the demands of online shopping.
In this article, we’re going to look at what warehousing is all about.
What is warehousing?
In a nutshell, warehousing is the process of storing physical goods until they are sold and distributed.
Warehousing helps you store your products safely and securely in an organised way to:
- Help track their location
- Keep track of when they arrived
- Know how long they’ve been there
- Know how many of each item you have in stock
This warehouse logistics is at the heart of every business that sells physical goods and covers four areas:
Warehouse management
This is the day-to-day running of operations in a warehouse. Its focus is on ensuring operational excellence. It oversees staff, training, equipment, safety and security, and relationships with shipping carriers.
Warehouse services
Warehouse services can differ across providers, but generally, you’re looking at things like loading, picking, sorting, stacking, wrapping and distributing goods.
Warehouse operations
This refers to the warehouse processes that revolve around the movement of goods and tracking your inventory. Doing this efficiently can help keep costs low and provide excellent customer service and a productive workforce.
Warehouse management systems
A warehouse management system is the oil that keeps all the other cogs turning smoothly by optimising inventory tracking, warehousing operations, workloads and shipping.
By giving you real-time visibility into every action in the warehouse, you enjoy a streamlined system that will improve your bottom line and deliver exceptional customer service.
Expert warehousing will benefit your business
As a business owner, you have two choices: invest in your own warehousing facilities, staff, and technology or (so the smart thing) use a third party to do all that for you.
Doing it yourself inevitably leads to higher costs and overheads for you. It can also be a lot of hassle maintaining additional buildings, investing in new technology, hiring, and training additional staff – especially if your business is seasonal. That’s why so many businesses opt for using a third-party.
Letting someone else take the weight from your shoulders leaves you more time to concentrate on growing your business and more money to invest in people.
Call the team at Smart Directions on 01442 507 240 to talk about your warehousing needs.