Warehousing 101: Reasons Businesses Should Outsource their Products

Any retail or wholesale business that carries merchandise understands the complexity of storage, inventory management and easy access to all pertinent information about what products are in stock, which are on order and which have been discontinued or remaindered. Using an external warehousing company to handle all these issues for you makes sense when it comes to company organization and finances.

Why should businesses outsource their products?

Save Money on Warehouse Space

Maintaining a large inventory of merchandise requires buildings to store and organize. Companies usually rent this space and the shelving and equipment necessary to move the goods. According to Commonwealth Inc., outsourcing product warehousing saves money because there is usually a set fee per month or year that includes all necessary aspects of inventory management.

When it comes to liability for damage, businesses who rent warehouse space on their own are financially responsible for problems. Outsourcing to a warehouse facility removes this potentially expensive risk.

Easier Inventory Management

Warehouse facilities that the businesses outsource their product handling to also provide inventory management with a user-friendly interface that can be accessed from the office. Many also offer the option for mobile device and cell phone apps so orders and information can be used on the go.

Developing an inventory system in-house requires paying a tech team and data entry people to constantly update and monitor which products are available and which are not on order to ensure availability to customers. When you outsource the warehousing of merchandise, the high-tech programs created by the warehousing company are already in place for you to use. Their employees handle updates and development and you benefit from their expertise.

From your office, you can easily track inventory, shipments both in and out and adjust your marketing or sales appropriately to deal with overstock or discontinued items.

Better Service for Customers

Since you can easily rent a warehouse space in multiple locations across the country, your business is better able to serve its customers. In import businesses, one warehouse location could be situated near a port to handle incoming wholesale orders and be used as a shipping location to stock other warehouse facilities across the country.

Tracking sales by region makes it easy to know how many of which products to keep in each warehouse. This means faster shipping times for customers.

Financial savings, inventory tracking and improved customer satisfaction are all excellent reasons to use an independent warehousing facility. Many of the headaches of handling merchandise can be removed by outsourcing product management.