If you own a business that deals with physical products, one thing that needs to be on point from the outset is efficient logistics and maintaining a robust supply chain. There is nothing worse than having the right demand, but not having the right supply to meet it, or to have your products stored in a location which makes it difficult to move product or maintain its quality. For these reasons, it is imperative for businesses to zero in on the right choice of product warehousing. Whether you have a startup or a fully developed business, one thing that you need to accomplish with great care and finesse is renting a warehouse for your products.
Finding the right warehouse for your products might not be as easy as you think. To start things off, there is a lot of commercial warehouse space to choose from if you are looking at leasing a warehouse. Simply put, your warehouse is the place where you put your products to build up stock for future demand. Whenever there is demand, products are then taken from the warehouse to selling areas such as stores or shops for the final transaction. This makes distribution warehouse space one of the most important factors in business logistics and supply chain management. When you are considering renting a warehouse, these facts should come into play immediately.
The warehouse leasing industry in America is currently worth more than $25 billion, with over 85% growth over the last 15 years. While this means that a lot more commercial warehousing space is actually available now, the demand for that space has also increased significantly over the years, showing an annual increase of 7%. When you are looking at renting a warehouse, there are quite a few important factors about the nature of your business and your products that should govern your decisions. Getting things wrong in this regard can seriously harm your business, and special care should be taken when it comes to industrial warehouse space. Here are a few important considerations that need to feature in your thought process when it comes to renting a warehouse –
- Space – First and foremost, you need to be smart about determining warehouse space needs. This is an area where you can also make cost savings if you do not need much space by renting a smaller warehouse, but you should always try to have enough space so that it can accommodate the maximum possible product volume that you can produce, with a little bit of headroom if you want to scale things up in the future.
- Convenience – Practical factors which govern the amount of overall convenience you would get out of a particular warehouse space is an important consideration. Warehouses which make it easy to get products in and out, have better road access and are physically closer in distance to your main selling points are always better bets when it comes to convenience and speed.
- Security – While finding a warehouse to rent, one factor that you cannot compromise with is security. Since you would be looking to store your valuable product stock in the warehouse, you need state of the art security features which would guarantee that your products would be safe in the long term. In this regard, it is best to choose a warehouse that already has security measures like surveillance systems and fire suppression systems built in.
- Special Features – If you are making products of a particular kind which have special needs when it comes to storage, you need to find a warehouse which has support for that feature. For example, if you are in the consumables market or manufacture medicinal products, you cannot store your products in a warehouse which lacks support for commercial scale refrigeration. Finding the right fit for your requirements is crucial in this regard.
A little bit of smart, informed decision making can go a long way when it comes to renting a warehouse, and taking note of these considerations can help you find the right place to stock your products for the long term.