Modern facilities and full-featured logistics systems give a first-class distribution infrastructure for third-party logistics. Strategic focus on retail logistics for consumer packaged goods should be there in this business. Installation logistics solution for turnkey project management of logistics requirements for new construction and renovations also can be done with this business.
Warehouse and distribution service is a great way to conduct
business. However, in order to start warehousing company, you would
need a huge overhead account to buy warehouse property and
facilities; people to work in the warehouse industry (most
importantly, logistics officers to make sure that operations run as
smoothly as possible and machineries to use. Simply put, a warehouse
is a commercial building for the storage of an assortment of goods.
Customs, importers, exporters, manufacturers, transport businesses,
and wholesalers use warehouses to store their products. Warehouse
and distribution service is a great way to conduct business for some
entrepreneurs, and eventually proves to be a great investment.
Major part of overhead expenses will go into buying, constructing,
renting or outfitting a building or several buildings for your use.
A warehouse business will not be a warehouse unless there is that
physical structure that can hold all the goods. Warehouses need not
be acres wide, but spacious enough to hold whatever your customers
would want. Some warehouses hold small products such as microchips,
auto spare parts, etc. Others hold larger products like luxury cars,
boiler parts, etc. Some of your customers may be selling small
products like light fixtures or bicycle parts, but needs warehousing
storage for a huge supply of them.
The customers whose product can fit into the warehouse can be
accommodated. Taking more work than the actual warehouse can handle
will only disrupt everyone's operations, including your customers'.
The ware house location should be somewhere far from
residential areas but near other industrial buildings, or at least,
places where the customers can have easy access them. Warehouses are
usually large plain buildings equipped with loading docks to load
and unload trucks. Depending on what company you are servicing, you
may want to find a location near airports, railways or seaports.
This business need a lot of people to work within. Some people will
have to be assigned to moving goods, receiving or distributing
goods. Logistics officers are essential to this type of business,
for they can make operations run as smoothly as possible. It would
be unwise to think that only a few workers can make this type of
business run without a glitch. Without logistic officers, you would
have a difficult time picking up wares, placing them in storage,
keeping track of orders for distribution, or releasing orders.
The marketing trend that is happening with great success is doubling
warehouses as retail stores, with the larger orders on top of tall
shelves and smaller bundles on the lower shelves for the walk-in
consumers. Another marketing trend is more geared to Internet
subscribers. Small orders are being shipped worldwide from various
warehouses. Typically, a couple of companies would order large bulks
of materials once per month. These days a large number of
individuals and small scale business order smaller quantities of
materials from warehouse distributors, but they order more
frequently than the larger companies. Depending on how you wish to
go about your business, you can either go for the typical
supplier-warehouse-consumer deal, warehouse / retail outfit deal, or
Internet based consumer distribution system.
Deliveries should be made either by boat, plane, train or by courier
system. Your logistics officers should handle these flawlessly to
ensure that deliveries are made on time, and without damage to the
goods. It would also be prudent for you, as owner or manager of the
warehouse business to get insurances for your company and your
consumers, just in case things do not go according to plan.