Fulfilment Centre Near Me vs. Warehouse in Proximity to Your Target Group
When in search of a fulfilment warehouse, the prevailing choice for most merchants is a logistics centre close to their location. “Fulfilment centre near me” is a common search term, reflecting this preference. However, this approach is often not the most beneficial when determining the location of your fulfilment centre. A more strategic choice involves selecting one or more warehouses situated close to your customers and primary markets.
Regarding the number of warehouses, a prevalent misunderstanding exists—“having multiple fulfilment warehouses complicates your logistics process”. This statement isn’t always accurate. In the following read, we'll dispel this misconception and demonstrate how enhancing your logistics setup with location-based fulfilment can lead to more streamlined and efficient operations, getting your products closer to your customers, and possibly reducing delivery times and costs.
Why Does the Fulfilment Location Matter?
The location of your fulfillment center(s) is decisive in determining multiple key aspects of order fulfillment. All of these factors are influenced by the geographical proximity of your warehouse to your end customer.
Shorter distances lead to:
- Faster order delivery
- Cheaper shipping prices
- Environmentally friendlier shipping
- Fewer errors
Being closer geographically reduces the time taken to fulfil orders. For long-haul deliveries, couriers typically incorporate intermediary steps, grouping products by area in distribution centres. Beyond the actual travel time, this introduces additional delays. Even with swift picking, packing, and handing over the parcel to your courier, customers may still be dissatisfied with the shipping services if these intermediary steps are lengthy.
Naturally, the farther the distance, the higher the associated costs, accounting for fuel, labour, and the like. This not only has a more substantial negative environmental impact but is also a less efficient option concerning both profits and ecological footprint.
The more stages involved in the delivery process, the more susceptible it is to errors. Eliminating intermediary steps minimises the chances of mistakes occurring.
It's worth noting, the points mentioned above are equally applicable to the reverse logistics process. Opting for location-based fulfilment enhances efficiency and customer satisfaction, while potentially reducing operational costs and environmental impact, creating a more sustainable and customer-centric approach to logistics.
Do I Need a Fulfilment Warehouse Near Me?
In short, no, you don’t necessarily need a fulfilment warehouse or logistics provider near your location. While it might be convenient in some instances, it isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution.
If your primary market is near your business location, partnering with a 3PL nearby can be a logical choice, aligning with your supply and distribution needs.
However, the guiding principle should always be to store your products close to the majority of your customers. This principle applies when deciding whether to store your products near your manufacturing plant as well. In every scenario, opting for location-based fulfilment near your customers is the strategic choice to ensure prompt deliveries and optimal customer satisfaction.
Location-Based Fulfilment - One or Multiple Fulfilment Centres?
You might be contemplating: “Should I utilise one or several fulfilment centres?” Typically, the response is—it’s conditional. Allow me to clarify.
If you’ve recently inaugurated your business and are only dispatching a finite quantity of products per month within your country or region, maintaining a single warehouse is likely sufficient.
However, as your e-commerce business flourishes and international shipping becomes a requirement, implementing a multi-warehouse strategy becomes pivotal. This doesn’t just place you closer to your clientele but also eases cross-border e-commerce consignments. For instance, dispatching parcels from the UK to the EU allows the incorporation of a strategy called direct-injection to expedite and adeptly manage areas like customs clearance.
Direct-injection entails transporting your products in bulk to another nation where they’re stored and subsequently fulfilled. Employing warehouses in diversified markets streamlines this procedure.
Moreover, having multiple fulfilment centres across varied locations enhances operational flexibility and fortifies your supply chain. If a warehouse fails to meet its service-level agreements (SLAs) due to logistical disruptions or supply-chain constraints, the presence of alternate centres ensures uninterrupted order processing.
The fragility of the international supply chain was distinctly highlighted in the past years, advocating the indispensability of adaptability and a resilient backup plan for 2024. A well-structured Plan B can indeed be a distinguishing competitive advantage.
A prevalent misapprehension is that multiplying warehouses invariably complicates operations. However, partnering with a 3PL company like byrd, which commands a robust European fulfilment network, dispels such concerns.
Automated solutions for location-based fulfilment enable you to persistently concentrate on your primary business objectives, simultaneously leveraging an enhanced logistics strategy.
How byrd Helps You to Find the Perfect Fulfilment Locations
When you start working with us at byrd, we’ll guide you to find the best place to store your products. If you sell a lot of products to different countries, our experts will help you make the best plan for where to keep and send out your stock.
You can use our easy dashboard to get all the info you need to make your delivery services better. The data from different storage places will be brought together in helpful reports that are always current.
You are welcome to look at where our delivery centres are in Europe now.
Conclusion for Location-Based Fulfilment
In short, where you store your products really matters. So, we recommend keeping your stock close to where your customers live. Doing this will make delivering orders better in many ways. It will make delivery faster, cost less, and be better for the environment - all these things are getting more and more important for online shopping.
People who sell products to different countries should think about using more than one storage place. This not only brings the benefits mentioned but also lowers the risk of running into problems with getting supplies and makes selling across borders easier.