Do You Need A Warehouse or Fulfillment Company?
Do you need a warehouse or fulfillment company? Choosing the right warehouse company or the right fulfillment company takes some time. Many shipping professionals use the times warehouse and fulfillment center interchangeably but they are very different. These are two methods of storage that are not the same as each other, and the logistics of running a warehouse are often much simpler than running that of a fulfillment center. This is mostly because the fulfillment center is much more involved in the order fulfillment process than the warehouse. Let’s take a look at the differences.
Warehouses
To have the maximum quantity of products in the past, a business would need to have a large warehouse ready to go at all times. A slow information flow was what once necessitated vast amounts of goods, and advances in modern technology and communication systems have changed all of this.
A warehouse can store products for an extended period, and this is much longer than a fulfillment center does. The modern supply chain can effectively predict product months now, so it’s always important to have the correct amount of goods at any given time. A warehouse is usually an in-house tool used by a company to build an infantry. This inventory can anticipate product popularity – so warehousing never really meets the customers.
Fulfillment Centers
These are commonly known as distribution centers and the storage in order fulfillment centers is different from warehouses. They don’t just store the goods. They are also in charge of fulfilling the orders that come through, specifically from ecommerce spaces. They could mix products, packages and even more. The velocity of distribution flow is much higher than the warehouse, and the fulfillment center can handle the complex logistics involved in meeting customer specific orders.
They can also evaluate shipping costs and manage store inventory. The fulfillment center also uses different technologies than the warehouse to be able to fulfill the order to move the products. In warehousing, the goal here is in storage, but in a fulfillment center the technology has to keep up with the fast ordering from ecommerce stores.
A warehouse management system needs to be top of the line to handle order picking, but modern warehouse management systems include robotics, drones and more traditional technology.
Which One?
If your company is dealing with e-commerce goods, you need to be able to have somewhere that you can put your products and continue to store the inventory safely. The decision between whether you choose a warehouse or fulfillment company is going to depend greatly on what kind of products you deal with in the first place. Warehouses are designed for a long-term storage solution, and they are optimized this way. Distribution and fulfillment companies are designed for quick intake and quick output.
It’s important that you choose the correct one for your business needs, and if you would like to learn more about the best shipping, for filling and storage solutions for you, contact us today and see how we can help.