Determining the right location for your fulfillment center is a crucial decision as it affects the rest of your processes. There are several questions that you need to ask yourself during the process of evaluating the process of your fulfillment center, a very important factor in being the location. Continue reading for a few tips that can help you decide on a location while choosing the location of a fulfillment center.
Location Of A Fulfillment Center
The location of your fulfillment center influences the shipping cost and can prove to be an obstacle to your e-commerce business. Hence, there are many factors that you need to keep in mind while choosing the perfect fulfillment center. But more importantly, there are a few key factors that you need to keep in mind while you choose the location of your fulfillment center.
Desired Customer Base
While choosing a location for your warehouse, you need to keep your customer’s location in min. Determine your desired customer base and pinpoint the location you are trying to serve in. Having a warehouse in the proximity of your warehouse can be beneficial for you as you can cut down the transport costs. Your deliveries will also be faster. Faster deliveries and reduced shipping costs will contribute to the overall experience of your customer.
Single or Multiple Locations?
If you’ve just started a business, having a single fulfillment center is feasible for you. It goes without saying that once your business starts growing and you’re looking to upscale it, you need to consider having multiple fulfillment centers for your inventory.
Splitting your inventory across multiple areas gives you more coverage for faster delivery, your buyers can expect next-day delivery. Another benefit is that if your inventory runs out of stock., you have backup inventory at multiple fulfillment centers. Instead of having multiple fulfillment centers, choose a single fulfillment center that has multiple locations. It will help to integrate the data, technologies, and communication as well.
Look for Highways and Shipping Hubs
Choose a location that is close to major states and shipping hubs as it will help your business grow successfully. Taking this step makes the travel route more accessible which results in a more efficient order fulfillment process. Most of your items are going to be moving around in trucks. With a warehouse close to accessible highways, your shipping partner will be enabled to receive your products faster.
