Launch a Business Without a Warehouse: Use a Fulfillment Center by Satria Piningit

If you have ever seriously thought about starting up a new business then you will know there are several hurdles which need to be overcome before you can get your new enterprise up and running. One of the biggest problems facing aspiring businesses entails shipping and warehousing. In the past, business people needed to have sufficient space to hold sufficient quantities of whatever merchandise they dealt in. They also needed to hire personnel to pack, ship, store and inventory these products. The costs involved with building warehouses, and hiring quality staff to handle shipping could be daunting for most new businesses. At one time, launching a business without a warehouse was unthinkable. Remove the Expense of Operating a Warehouse In today's world of business, however, a solution has been devised. You don't really need your own storage facilities, and you don't need handling personnel to start a new business any more. As an alternative, you could contract a fulfillment warehouse or drop shipping service. Fulfillment centers take care of many of or all of your shipping and warehousing needs, saving you labour costs and also the cost and trouble involved with running your own warehouse. A Fulfillment Warehouse Lets you Focus on Your Business, Not on Shipping Launching a business without a warehouse can actually have several advantages, some of which will be more obvious than others. New businesses receive instant benefits by being able to focus on what they do best, creating quality products and marketing them to a reliable consumer base. The warehousing, packing, shipping and inventory needs are left up to the experts. You save time in removing the need to hire and train a shipping and receiving department, and you also save money in labor costs. A Fulfillment Center Grants Flexibility But a fulfillment center or drop shipping company can also offer other benefits that you may not have considered. For example, with a fulfillment warehouse pay storage only for the space you need, instead of paying for a warehouse that is empty and over staffed half the time. Using a fulfillment center allows you to be flexible regarding how much space you use and enables you to balance it with the growing needs of your company. If you do want more space, you don't have to put up another warehouse; rather, you can just rent extra space in the fulfillment warehouse. You can also reduce your shipping costs by qualifying for bulk rates far sooner than you otherwise would. Use a Fulfillment Center and Save Money This can be achieved in a number of different ways. First of all, some shipping materials (i.e., tape, envelopes, boxes) are bought in great quantities by fulfillment centers, making them eligible for discount rates. In some cases this saving is passed along to you, the customer. Secondly, parcel delivery carriers offer fulfillment centers a considerably better rate than other businesses. This is because they ship many more parcels than the typical business does. Due to the fact that fulfillment centers manage the shipping for so many businesses, they can negotiate a lower per package price from leading couriers such as UPS and FedEx. Yet again, these savings are often passed down to you. With all the money you can save by starting your business without a warehouse, it makes perfect sense to use a fulfillment center. Leave your shipping and handling to those that do it best, and you can focus on the most important thing: building up your company.