Warehousing, Fulfilment & Distribution Services

Third-party warehousing refers to the outsourcing of all warehouse elements of a supply chain. Rather than owning or renting warehousing space and employing warehouse staff, a company can outsource to a third-party warehouse partner.

This means that when the company receives an order, it will then be picked and packed by the warehousing partner before being picked up and transported by the next link in the supply chain. It takes an element of supply chain management out of the hands of businesses and places it in the hands of logistics professionals.

Both logistics and warehousing are parts of the freight supply chain. The warehousing aspect of a business covers unloading, receiving inbound goods, storage, order picking and packaging, and return handling. The logistics aspect covers every part of the flow of goods in and out of the warehouse, like transportation inventory, and internal movement of goods.

Whilst warehousing provides a central location for receiving, distributing and storing goods, logistics deal with end-to-end customer requirements. Whilst warehousing isn’t necessarily part of logistics (rather just the end or beginning point of the journey), it’s important to have both parts of the supply chain working in tandem.

There are many benefits of warehousing. Third-party warehousing takes responsibility for unloading and receiving inbound goods, storage, order picking and packaging, and return handling from a company and places it with their warehousing partner. For many businesses, this can save money as it reduces the amount spent on both warehousing space and staff.

Warehousing also offers expansion opportunities. With warehousing outsourced, your business has the room to stop focusing on receiving, storing, packing, and dispatching products. Instead, you can focus on actually producing your products. Your business can reallocate resources internally so you can grow.

Eliminating the frustrating job or accounting for warehousing costs can be as easy as outsourcing your warehousing. Contact us here at Pinnacle today to find out how we can help you.

To determine warehousing rates, a warehouse company will take into consideration the business costs involved in keeping and running a warehouse and a subsequent value per square foot/square metre. They will also have a level of value to add to create a profit margin.

The capacity of space used at any one time within a warehouse generally fluctuates due to goods moving in and out and/or being processed within the warehouse facility.

Although warehousing, fulfilment and eCommerce customers share similar fundamental services from a provider, they are likely to still have some unique requirements. Therefore a warehouse will consider all of the above factors in order to create a viable costing structure for any individual business requiring their services.

You should base your businesses’ warehousing in a location that enables you to distribute to all customers in the most time and cost-effective way. This means choosing warehousing services in a strategic location.

There are a few things to consider when deciding where you should base your businesses’ warehousing. You could look for a warehouse located along your supply route, or near air and sea ports. In the UK, it’s most sensible to consider central locations with good access to trade routes and sea and airports.

Here at Pinnacle, our warehousing in Leicester offers transport links all over the UK and internationally. Our warehousing in Virginia allows transport links between the UK and USA, as well as all over the United States and the world at large.

The role of warehousing is to store, preserve and keep goods safe alongside providing efficient handling and ensuring a continuous supply of products as a key part of the supply chain.

Warehouses are an integral part of order fulfilment. You can increase the efficiency of your supply chain by ensuring timely supplies, inventory distribution, sorting, cross-docking, and other operations.