If you own an ecommerce business, warehousing is one of the most important pieces of your supply chain. Proper warehouse management an impact everything from efficiently managing inventory to getting orders delivered to customers on time.

Many fast-growing direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands partner with a third-party logistics (3PL) partner like ShipBob to take care of time-consuming warehousing needs. Read on to learn more about warehousing services, and how ShipBob can help.

What are warehousing services?

Warehousing services relates to a third-party that takes care of storing a brand’s physical goods before they are sold. Warehouses safely and securely store products in an organised way to track where items are located, when they arrived, how long they have been there, and the quantity on hand. In ecommerce, products are stored until an order is placed online, at which point the order is shipped directly to the consumer from the facility in which it was stored.

The essential warehousing services for ecommerce

Warehousing services involves more than just storing your inventory. Many 3PLs also offer inventory management services and ways to distribute inventory so you an further optimise your supply chain. here are the essential warehousing services for ecommerce. 

1. Inventory tracking

Inventory tracking refers to the ability to track the SKUs you have currently store in a warehouse, the locations in which their stored, and the quantities available at each warehouse location.

The ability to track inventory levels in real-time is an important part of the supply chain and critical for ecommerce brands that wish to truly scale successfully.

3PLs like ShipBob provide build-in inventory management tools so you can track inventory in real-time and set reorder notification points to prevent stockouts.

2. Warehouse management

Warehouse management refers to the oversight of operations in a warehouse. This includes receiving, tracking, and storing inventory, as well as training staff, managing shipping, workload planning, and monitoring the movement of goods.

ShipBob fully owns their warehouse management system (WMS) software, which is designed to optimise operational processes in a warehouse. Our WMS provides full visibility into real-time inventory levels and storage, staff productivity, demand forecasting, and retail fulfilment workflows within every ShipBob fulfilment centre

3. Warehousing storage

When you outsource fulfilment to a 3PL, you’re able to store your inventory and pick, pack, and ship your direct-to-consumer orders. 3PLs do the work for you and you’re not responsible for running a full-scale operation.

ShipBob offers inventory and fulfilment expertise with years of experience and the resources available to store your inventory, while managing other aspects of your fulfilment logistics strategy to maximise efficiency and get orders out as soon as possible.

4. Warehouse distribution

Also known as ‘distributed inventory,’ warehouse distribution refers to the the splitting of inventory across different fulfilment centres that are strategically chosen to keep inventory closer to your customers.

This way, it is nearby when it’s ready to be shipped to reduce shipping costs and last-mile delivery times. Instead of using a single fulfilment centre, distributed inventory lets a merchant leverage the locations that are most optimal for the business, enabling each order to be routed to and shipped from the closest fulfilment centre.

What sets ShipBob apart from other services?

ShipBob is more than a 3PL. We go above and beyond to provide best-in-class fulfilment and logistics solutions for DTC brands of all sizes. Here are some of the ways we’re different than other warehousing services.

1. Regular warehouse audits

Running a warehouse audit is a lot of work. If you don’t have the time or resources to handle audits, ShipBob can help. We regularly conduct warehouse audits and continue to reevaluate our spaces as we grow, so we can continuously provide our merchants the best possible experience and increased efficiencies over time.

2. Integrating your tech stack

When you work with ShipBob, you can integrate your tech to ShipBob’s warehouse technology to give you one streamlined dashboard into your inventory management. You will have better inventory forecasting and a clear idea of which products are performing well and which products are moving slower than expected. 

3. Order accuracy

ShipBob can help improve order accuracy significantly. Whether it’s assigning pickers optimised routes, opening additional fulfilment centre locations to cut down on shipping times, or improving our warehouse picking and packing processes, ShipBob is constantly looking for ways to improve and achieve higher levels of order accuracy.

4. Advanced data and analytics

ShipBob’s proprietary technolgy offers an advanced analytics and reporting tool that helps you make better decisions. Get questions to answers like:

• Which states do I ship the most orders to?
• Which orders haven’t been delivered yet?
• How much inventory do I currently have on hand at each ShipBob fulfilment centre?
• What were my historical stock levels at any point in time in any location?
• How many days do I have left until a SKU will be out of stock?
• By when do I need to reorder inventory for each product?
• What is the average cart value and shipping cost by shipping method and order?
• How much money would I save on shipping if I changed the fulfilment centre locations my inventory is in?
• And much more

Get started with ShipBob, a best-in-class 3PL

By choosing ShipBob as your 3PL parter, you’ll be able to save on costs, fulfil orders faster, and keep customers happy.

Request a quote below to learn more about ShipBob’s fulfilment services and see if we’d be a good fit.

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Warehousing Services FAQs

3PLs like ShipBob offers warehousing services to help online brands grow faster. Here are answers to some common questions regarding warehousing services.

What are warehousing services?

Warehousing services relates to a third-party that takes care of storing a brand’s physical goods before they are sold. Warehouses safely and securely store products in an organised way to track where items are located, when they arrived, how long they have been there, and the quantity on hand. In ecommerce, products are stored until an order is placed online, at which point the order is shipped directly to the consumer from the facility in which it was stored.

How can you improve your warehouse workflows?

You can greatly improve logistics by simply warehousing services and logistics to a tech-enabled 3PL. This way, you can tap into a robust fulfilment infrastructure and technology, so you can stay competitive while saving time and money on logistic operations.

What are warehousing costs?

Warehousing fees can range from per-SKU or per-unit storage to a fixed fee for each bin, shelf, or pallet used. For instance, 3PL ShipBob charges for warehousing on a per-shelf, bin, and pallet basis, so you only pay for the space you use on a monthly basis.