Growing brands: do you need a fulfilment centre or a warehouse?
Has your business outgrown your garage? Do you need a warehouse or fulfilment centre? What's the difference, anyway? Find out in our guide.
If you're reading this, then you deserve a "well done!"
Your business has grown from a small acorn into a mighty oak, outgrowing your spare room and garage.
You know you need more space. But can extra storage solve all your growing pains – or do you need some helping hands instead?
Or, to put it another way, do you need to invest in warehousing space or a full-blown fulfilment service?
And what's the difference between a warehouse and a fulfilment centre, anyway?
Let's find out.
Storage warehouses vs fulfilment centres
There are similarities between warehouses and fulfilment centres. Both are large buildings where goods are stored before their distribution for sale.
But beyond this basic function, their purposes are quite different.
Benefits of storage warehouse
As your business grows, you'r need for space increases.
A warehouse offers ample room for safe, secure housing of your product. Your stock can stay there for as long as you need. When you need access to the stock, you can arrange for it to be delivered back to you.
This has clear advantages for growing brands. Your business is no longer limited to the amount of stock you can store in your home, so you have more room to flourish.
However, warehouses can't handle fulfilment – the art of picking, packing and posting products to customers. To fulfil orders, you'll have to retrieve the stock and ship it yourself.
So, warehouses are good for long-term storage. Say you have a seasonal product – it's handy to have somewhere to store the items for several months until peak season rolls around.
Benefits of a fulfilment centre
What if your business is growing to the point that you're struggling to handle the orders yourself?
Are you spending so much time fulfilling orders that you're neglecting the other areas of your business, including the all-important product itself?
Would you like someone to take care of that side of the business for you?
This is where a fulfilment centre could be your saviour.
Think of a fulfilment centre as the foundation of your supply network.
From the outside, it looks like any other warehouse. Inside, however, it's a different story. Instead of a quiet, slow-moving environment, a fulfilment centre is a hive of activity.
Fulfilment centres hold products for multiple eCommerce businesses and send them to customers as orders come through. To do this, they employ armies of trained pickers and packers – and they work with trusted delivery partners to ensure products reach customers on time and in good condition.
If you don't want to spend hours boxing and packaging your products every day – and going on countless runs to the Post Office – then you could let a fulfilment centre do it for you. This way, you'll win back the time you need to grow, market and produce your products.
When you can no longer cope with the volume of orders, you need to take a fresh look at what you can outsource. A good fulfilment centre will deliver exactly the service customers expect, allowing you to streamline your operation without compromising on quality.
How does this work in practice?
You send your goods via parcels, pallets or containers to a fulfilment centre. They should be inspected on arrival – and any discrepancies should be reported to you immediately.
The fulfilment centre then stores the goods on its premises. Depending on the type of product, it could be stored as eaches (individual items) in bins or on shelves in inners or outers.
Then, when an order is received, they pick it, pack it and ship it on your behalf.
Here at Stowsafe, we have a secure, environmentally controlled warehouse and store our clients' products in dedicated areas. This ensures that products stay in good condition and drastically reduces the potential for mix-ups.
Isn't this confusing for the customer?
We can't speak for every fulfilment centre – but when you use Stowsafe, customers won't know the difference between our fulfilment service and your own.
This is for two main reasons.
First, we offer a completely bespoke service that can be tailored to match your own – right down to packaging, labels and printed flyers.
Second, we use a unique warehouse management system (WMS) that integrates with all major eCommerce platforms. That includes Shopify, Magento, Amazon, eBay and WooCommerce.
These integrations make the order and delivery process seamless. When an order is placed on your website, it feeds instantly and directly into our WMS. This means there are no back-and-forth emails to worry about.
Again – to the customer, the process is invisible. All this happens behind the scenes, so they're unaware that they're dealing with anyone other than you: the brand.
Is shipping expensive?
No. An experienced fulfilment centre deals with orders every day – so they can negotiate good terms with trusted delivery partners.
With Stowsafe, you can specify a preferred delivery partner or use our smart courier selection system to choose the most cost-effective partner on an order-by-order basis.
Is shipping slower?
One of the difficulties of establishing a brand is ensuring reliability.
When you're building a business, an unexpected event can delay orders and – in a world where customers expect guaranteed next-day delivery – it's all too easy to disappoint and damage your reputation. It only takes a few negative reviews to see your overall rating start to slip.
At Stowsafe, we work hard to ensure that orders arrive on time, every time. That's why we offer same-day global dispatch on all orders received before 2.30 pm. Both you and your customer will receive an instant notification, along with tracking details.
What about reporting and analytics?
If you choose to store your stock in a warehouse then you are responsible for keeping track of it.
A good fulfilment centre, on the other hand, should provide a way to track and manage inventory. For instance, we offer an online reporting suite that gives you full visibility of stock levels and locations and even sends automatic low-stock alerts.
The bottom line
Still unsure whether you need a fulfilment centre or a warehouse?
Look at it this way.
A warehouse is a little like an overflow car park for products. It's a place where stock can sit, safely, until it's needed.
This suits businesses that already have a flourishing fulfilment function. They already have teams of trained staff who can pick and pack products at scale – they simply have too much product.
A fulfilment centre, on the other hand, works as an extension of your own business. It will offer warehousing, sure – but its main function is to take the stress of fulfilment out of your hands.
So choosing a fulfilment centre isn't about making more room for more stock. It's about streamlining your business and making more room for growth.
Are you looking for an online fulfilment centre in South West England? Contact our friendly staff today to discuss your requirements. Our bespoke fulfilment service is here to make your life easier and help you to expand your business.
