Save £££ By Bootstrapping Your Warehouse Business.

Posted on by Monarch Shelving

The rise of e-commerce and drop shipping as a viable option for small business owners, has led to an increase in the renting of warehouses.

With the cost of setting up a new warehouse business, wavering between $10,000 and $50,000, a new business needs to keep an eagle eye on its’ expenses.

Bootstrapping your business involves starting and running your business on a strict budget.

A smart businessman can do this by taking steps, ranging from cutting back on hiring employees to using cheap marketing methods to save money.

The following steps are a basic guide to saving cash by bootstrapping your warehouse business:

1. Employees.

Take advantage of staffing agencies to save on employee hiring costs. The cost is outweighed by the benefits, which include:

  • You will not be responsible for their sick pay or holiday pay.
  • You can use them only when you need them. When there is any downtime, you can cut back on the size of the workforce. This allows you maintain flexible staffing levels.
  • You also do not have to pay any severance pay when you no longer need their services.

2. Floor Space.

Critically examine your use of space and see if it is in line with your business model. Do you really need that 20 sq foot meeting room in the warehouse? Do you really need 10 office spaces? Does your business rely on having an expansive showroom on site?

Hire experts to help you with designing and setting out the ideal plan for your business premises. A specialist design firm can provide a complete service; from site survey to CAD mock-ups, manufacture and finally installation.

3. Equipment.

This is one avenue where it is advisable not to buy second-hand. Well, not everything. Electronics and computers are best purchased new. They become obsolete so quickly that buying a used one isn’t a viable business option.

You can buy used warehouse equipment such as pallets, pallet racks, guard rails. Ensure you check all the components of the equipment i.e. upright beams, pallet supports, wire deck, row spacers, column protectors etc.

4. Marketing.

Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. Do a customer audit and find out where your customers ‘hang out’. Get on there and connect with them. Use online press releases, maintain an active blog, carry out a social media campaign. If in doubt, use a local SEO firm.

5. Make Extra Space Profitable.

Are you using the entire 30 ft by 30 ft of warehouse space? If you have used the experts to plan the available space and you find that you have some left over. You can look to renting out the leftover space. A simple partition can demarcate your operations and will allow the warehouse pay for itself.

Of the many methods to save on your initial expenses, buying used warehouse equipment can save you up to 20 to 30 % of the cost. This allows new managers to funnel the potential savings to other aspects of running the business.

Monarch Shelving Limited stocks a range of used warehouse equipment.

Ensuring we stock only known brands, we also check every inch of any equipment we re-sell. This ensures that you are getting a high quality product at a cut rate price. Call us today for a quote.