Fulfilment Centre VS Warehouse: Which Should You Choose When You’re Ready to Break Free

So your business is kicking off, and you realise that you will soon need to store your inventory at a larger facility. The next step would require you to research warehouses and fulfilment centres. But aren’t they the same thing? Not quite.

Warehouses and fulfilment centres are sometimes used interchangeably; however, each differs in its offering. When researching the best place to store your inventory, there are a few things to consider. These factors help you determine which one of these options would best suit your needs.

Warehouse & Fulfilment Centre – What’s the Difference?

Let’s start with warehouses and their solution. A warehouse solution is often a sizeable commercial premise where you can store stock in bulk for an extended period of time. It has a very industrial ambience and can take the form of a large container where machinery such as forklifts are regularly moving around stored items in boxes or crates.

A fulfilment centre encompasses warehouse storage and promotes services that aim to get the product from the seller directly to the customer. As it handles the entire fulfilment process, other helpful factors when going down this route can include order picking, processing payments, packaging goods and shipments to customers. A fulfilment centre usually focuses on eCommerce retailers or the online aspect of a store.

There are a few more characteristics concerning both warehouse solutions and fulfilment centres which we will explore more here in-depth, so you can determine which one of these options might be best suited to your business needs.

Warehouse Solution vs Fulfilment Centre – Which is Better?

A warehouse solution, in comparison, offers quite a price difference compared to choosing a fulfilment centre option, simply as there is less involved in the overall service. You may find a cost-effective warehouse solution depending on where you are with your business. With many locations of large warehouse storage available throughout the country, you’re bound to find one close to you or your business’ headquarters. This option allows access to your goods when you need to process orders and promotes safe, long-term storage options.

A warehouse is also less busy and focuses on storing your inventory over a long period. Generally, there is less of a flurry of activity in this environment, as this option requires you and your team to manage your company’s end-to-end solution.

Regarding fulfilment centres, it’s important to recognise that this option usually provides a complete end-to-end solution for your business. Focusing primarily on B2C companies and their products, fulfilment centres aim to handle the entire process for your company, so you can focus on other aspects and continue to build your business!

With being able to eliminate the need for storage and not worry about packing products, visiting the post office daily, and handling customer orders, you can instead focus on other aspects, such as your marketing and spreading the good word!

By outsourcing and leaving the critical aspects to expert packers and handlers, you free up more time in your day and eliminate any hassle of finding your own physical office/headquarters space. Besides being able to focus more on marketing, customer service and product development, you allow for more time to be spent internally on scaling your business and developing a strategy that can help you kick bigger goals! A fulfilment centre will oversee your inbound and outbound logistics, from order processing and inventory management to negotiating your shipping fees.

eStore Logistics – Your Local 3PL Provider in Melbourne

At eStore Logistics, we are experts in managing a complete end-to-end solution for many businesses in the eCommerce space, from the initial set-up and integration, to shipping inventory from your supplier, to picking and packing, to managing your sales orders and finally, to delivering your products to your customers. You can further manage your business using our simple yet specialised logistics web platform.

If you’re looking to break free of playing host to storing your inventory and allowing someone else to handle the middle work, we have some great choices available.

If you’re looking to store a large quantity of your inventory for a long period and have the internal capacity to manage your own sales and shipments, a warehouse solution might be the perfect option for your business.

However, if you want to optimise your overall business and sales, consider investing in a recognised and renowned fulfilment centre that can help to speed up the sales process, boost your revenue and assist in streamlining the overall workings of your business. Choose eStore Logistics as your local 3pl provider in Melbourne and wider Australia for our unmatched productivity and world-class service.

Contact us today for more information and a competitive quote by visiting https://www.estorelogistics.com.au/contact/