Here’s the second half of our two-part post on the potential benefits of outsourcing warehousing for your business, should your current approach be lacking in efficiency:

6. Lower Initial Costs

If you are currently in the process of planning or setting up a new business, the premises you’ll be operating from will represent perhaps the biggest of all setup costs. Or if you are looking to lease a building, costs will inevitably rise in conjunction with the size and value of the place. If you are finding it difficult or even impossible to come up with the kind of capital required to pay for a suitable building, it may be in your best interests to consider outsourcing warehousing. Just as overspending may not be the best idea, the same can also be said for setting up in a property that isn’t suitable for your business.

7. Equipment Costs

Along with the costs associated with the premises themselves, there are also those in relation to buying the equipment and hardware you’ll be needing to run the warehouse. From the pallet racking to store your merchandise to the machinery to position/retrieve goods to the required IT systems and so on, there’s far more to setting up a warehouse than simply filling an empty room with a few shelves. Not only are all such costs eliminated by outsourcing, but working with a reputable service provider means gaining access to their own cutting-edge inventory hardware and systems.

8. Flexibility

Another significant benefit of outsourcing is the flexibility and scalability such agreements offer. For example, in most instances these days it isn’t necessary to enter into long and binding agreements, when setting up in the first place. Along with this, there’s the way in which the changing needs of your business can be adapted to in an instant, as and when required. If you suddenly grow or diversify in some way, your agreement can be modified accordingly. If your business hits turbulent times and you no longer need extensive warehousing, you can change your agreement to accommodate. By contrast, if you buy or rent a building for any given period of time, you are pretty much stuck with what you have, come what may.

9. Lower HR Costs

It’s always worth bearing in mind that it is perfectly possible you’ll actually be able to reduce your overall labour requirement by outsourcing your warehousing needs to a third party. By taking all such duties out of the hands of the business, you’ll find yourself with vastly more employee-hours to redirect to other duties, or even to be removed from the equation altogether. On a long-term basis, it’s perfectly possible for warehouse outsourcing to pay for itself with on-going savings.

10. Insurance and Protection

Last but not least, not only will a professional warehousing provider ensure that your goods are stored in the most appropriate and safest conditions possible, but you will also be covered by their insurance. Which in turn means that along with making significant savings on your own insurance costs, you will also be covered at any time if the worst should happen to your merchandise. Of course, the level of coverage you’ll be provided with will vary significantly from one provider to the next, so it’s an important point to bring up and discuss before going ahead with any agreement.

Speak to the professionals at Monarch Shelving today for more tips and advice.