Say you have a small business that you run out of your house. Whether it’s managed from the den, the garage, the attic, a spare bedroom, or the kitchen, if the spot is starting to overflow with your business, upgrading to a warehouse might help your business grow. And you can reclaim your house to being a home.
Tara Monosoff shared her positive experience with a warehouse in an article on Entrepreneur.com. “Warehousing and fulfillment is one of these tasks, and outsourcing can be a great solution when you begin finding yourself spending too much time on receiving, storage and shipping – time that would be better spent on what you see as the core activities to building your business,” she wrote.
She points to a few different ways of expanding into a warehouse, all while stressing how important expansion is at your business’s pace. If you aim too high with a warehouse, you might be looking for other areas of the house to work out of.
Companies can offer warehousing and fulfillment separately or jointly. You the owner needs to find the right company for you, at a price you can handle.
Consider Amazon
Amazon has become a great place for small companies, as this article by Marcus Wohlsen points out. The global retailer helps many companies, not just people trying to sell old CDs, books, and DVDs.
With the Fulfillment by Amazon program, an entrepreneur like Bernie Thompson – whose Plugable Technologies deals with USBs and Bluetooths – can have access to customers around the world.
“It really changes the paradigm when you’re able to ship the goods in bulk to a warehouse in Europe or Japan and have those goods be fulfilled in one day or two days,” Thompson said.
Amazon fits the perfect scenario: it has the storage capacity and accepts shipments of your company’s inventory. But there are many other companies out there that can do the same. Amazon just happens to have one of the most visible brands in the world.
Other options beyond Amazon
For a different company, make sure it’s a company you can trust, especially one that has been around for years. Getting a referral from one of your customers can be great, but you should do your homework on that company.
When selecting the right company for your SMB, think of matters like packaging fees, postal fees, and storage fees. You must think realistically about where your company is and how much you’re willing to spend to grow it instead of losing it.
If it’s time to move your business out of the house and onto the next step, warehousing can be that step.
