Shared business spaces have seen a decent bloom in recent years and with good reason. A lot of business today share their spaces for diverse workers like artists, accountants, and many others. Warehousing is a concept which employs this concept of space sharing extensively.
Setting up a warehouse takes a lot of money which is not ideal for small business with just a few stock-keeping units that make a small profit. Thus, shared warehouses help such business and they can be easily scaled up or down depending on their needs. If you are someone who wishes to dip your toes into the warehouse management business, then read on as we have a few things to share which we think you will find useful.
How warehouses work
Basically, warehousing is leasing out real estate for business to stock their products but there are a lot of legal hurdles to cross before you can start a legit business. Also, most warehouses are set up as shared spaces which are used by more than one business. Taking inventory in such a set up will definitely be time-consuming.
Also, nowadays, clients want real-time information for goods that make their way in and out of a warehouse so as to track them. If you have a lot of clients, managing them all and generating invoices will be tricky and complex. In such situations, warehouse management systems can really help you out.
Validate the opportunity
For a profitable warehousing business, you need to know whether there is a demand for a new warehouse in your location. Ideally, you need warehouses where real estate is cheap and close to customer centers as this will decrease the cost of stocking and distribution of goods which will be preferred by the businesses.
Look for existing warehouses in the location and the industries they are catering to. Analyzing the existing warehouses will give you an idea on whether there is demand for warehouses in that particular area. Some locations are popular for warehouses due to factors like infrastructure, tax breaks, weather, etc. Analyze all possible factors before you invest.
Validating the demand
Now that you know whether or not to set up a warehouse, you need to figure out the square foot area of the warehouse that you should build. This depends on the type of products that you are planning to stock. You can validate the demand by establishing an online presence and searching for prospective new customers. Also, choose relatable and memorable names for your business that people will easily trust.
Build a website and launch a PPC campaign which is targeted at your specific geography or location of your prospective clients. This is the easiest way to reach a steady stream of prospective businesses interested in leasing your warehouse. Use the opportunity to talk to them and get to know about their industry, space and other requirements, the fee they are comfortable with, etc and use this information to decide on your location, size of the warehouse, pricing, and the industries you want to target.
Finalizing the location
Once you have decided on a location, it is time to finalize a good property with the location. Local infrastructure plays a major role in making a warehouse great. Also investigate factors like connectivity, proximity to port and train stations and availability of cheap electricity, especially if your target cold chain industries and want uninterrupted connection.
Funding your warehouse
Finding the right sources to fund your warehouse is very important, especially since warehouses are expensive. Loans are a good way to go for constructing your warehouse as most of the clients in this industry seek long-term contracts and revenue is hence predictable.
