Your business is growing and you need somewhere to store all your inventory. You could purchase a warehouse to run your own, or you could contract your warehousing needs to a third party logistics provider. Having your own warehouse may sound like a great plan at first, but it may ultimately be a waste of money. Here are a few reasons why buying your own warehouse is a bad idea.
Hiring, Training and Managing Employees
A functional warehouse is more than just a giant building to store things. It’s a business all its own, including a full staff of employees trained to manage operations. That means that in addition to running your existing business, you’re going to have to hire, train and manage a new set of employees to run your warehouse. That’s an investment that may not be worth the hassle.
A third party warehouse like Overflo will already have a full staff of workers that are trained to pick orders, stock freight, prepare shipments, organize inventory and more. We hire additional workers for high demand seasons to make sure we are properly staffed at all times. Simply put, we take care of human resources for you, all while protecting your products and maintaining your customer satisfaction levels. It’s a winning solution all the way around.
Paying for More Space than You Actually Need
Your storage needs will fluctuate based market demands. The amount of space you need right before the holidays may be a lot bigger than what you need at most points in the year. If you buy your own warehouse, you will essentially pay for a bunch of empty space that only gets used for part of the year. With a 3PL provider like Overflo, you only pay for the room you need. We have scalable storage solutions for all businesses, big and small.
Getting a Warehouse That Cannot Support Your Business Growth
What happens if the opposite issue occurs? Your warehouse is too small to match the growth of your business. You could buy another warehouse and go through the long process of transferring your inventory, or you could buy a secondary warehouse for the surplus. Either way, you will end up with a big expense the books that you can avoid with a third party warehouse.
Overflo has over 2 million square feet of space across 10 locations. No matter how big your business gets, we will have the space to accommodate your inventory. We also have programs in place for new store openings and other events that you may go through in the future. We want your business to succeed, and we have the tools to facilitate that growth.
Keeping Up to Date with Inventory Management Solutions
Having an efficient inventory management system in place is one of the most important factors in running a warehouse. Technology is constantly changing, and you have to make sure that your software can keep up with it. If you are not a warehousing expert, you may not know how to work with the latest inventory management solutions. This will impact your order fulfillment, or it will force you to remain alert for new technology.
Why go through all of that when you can trust the experts? At Overflo, we work with the latest inventory management tools to keep you informed about your products’ whereabouts. You will know what’s going every step of the way, and you’ll have more time to focus the important areas of business development. Keep all of this in mind before buying your own warehouse so you can save yourself from a bad investment.
Contact Overflo today to learn more about our retail warehousing solutions.