With the increase in the eCommerce business, the need for warehouses also increased over time. Most eCommerce store owners don’t have their own warehouses to stock the products. They usually rent it for storing the products.
This implies that starting a warehouse business is an excellent opportunity to serve businesses needing warehousing space. You will need to build your warehouse or buy one, and then you can lease the space to local businesses.
You are not limited to leasing the warehouse to one business, but you can also rent the parts of the warehouse to different businesses and expand your warehouse business to delivery and tracking to earn good money.
Sounds easy, right? But there are a few essential things that you should know to jump into the business.
So in today’s guide, I’ll walk you through the step-by-step process to start a warehouse business. We’ll be exploring different types of warehouses and a few essential steps to start this business.
First, let’s understand a bit more about the warehousing business.
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What is Warehousing Business?
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A warehousing business involves storing manufacturer-purchased goods and sometimes delivering them for fulfillment. By operating a warehouse, you help retailers store their products until sale.
Every business selling physical things needs good warehousing. As a warehouse owner, you must properly store and care for all commodities. You may offer other logistics and supply chain solutions, such as:
- Managing Stocks
- Services for processing orders
- Third-party supply chain management
Types of Warehouses
You’ll find several types of warehouses on Google, but basically, there are only two types of warehouses. The rest are subtypes of one of the two types of warehouses.
1. Cold Storage Warehouse
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The cold storage warehouse implies that it is unique among storage facilities. It is important to remember that a cold storage warehouse has special needs in terms of temperature and heat exchange maintenance and monitoring.
Products that are vulnerable to deterioration at room temperature must be kept in a cold storage facility. It is similar to another type of warehouse, but the internal environment is entirely different.
These warehouses are used to store flowers & plants, medicine, and food products.
2. Non-Cold Storage Warehouse
These are ordinary warehouses that store products that don’t require particular temperatures and maintenance. They also focus on inventory management.
These warehouses are not as expensive to construct as cold storage warehouses. You can build these warehouses, and by following this guide, you can start a successful warehouse business.
How to Start a Warehouse Business?
To start a warehouse business, you can simply follow the following steps.
1. Create a Business Plan
Starting a warehouse business requires a business strategy. Having a business plan ensures consistency. It helps in uncertain situations.
A business strategy defines your goals and how to achieve them. Some focus on profits, while others focus on growth. Determining your aim will help you develop strategies to meet them.
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When establishing a business plan, indicate where you’ll operate, how you’ll fund it, and your strategies to run it. If one of your initial plans fails, you should have backups. You should also determine which type of products you’ll be storing.
Suppose you want to lease the warehouse to businesses that have products that require particular temperatures and maintenance. In that case, you need to ensure that your warehouse can fulfill the specific requirements.
Businesses collapse because owners don’t have a proper business plan. Long-term plans will boost your company’s lifespan, while short-term gains will help you get started.
2. Register Your Business
You’ll need to register your warehouse business and get a business license after creating a business plan. All businesses should get a license to indicate they’re legitimate and trustworthy. Your business could be shut down, and you may face fines without one.
You also need insurance whether you employ prefab or custom warehouses. Business insurance can cover property damage from a third party or nature.
Most business insurance policies include workers’ compensation, which ensures injured employees’ medical attention. They’ll continue earning money while unable to work.
You should also focus on completing the appropriate paperwork required by your municipality or state to guarantee that your firm operates legally. A few things you should have to run a successful warehouse business.
- Tax identification number (TIN)
- Employee identification number (EIN)
- Doing business as ( DBA) registration
- Tax permits according to city or state
3. Create a Website
In this modern age, every business needs a website. A website will help you to attract more customers and increase your revenue.
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Your warehouse business website will convey your unique selling point (USP) of warehouses and the facilities you’ll provide to the businesses.
More customers will be able to find you if you also focus on SEO optimization. Moreover, a website will help you build your brand, and it will also help you, in the long run, to expand your business to different states and countries.
Here’s a guide to help you create a website.
4. Equipment And Warehouse Considerations
The next thing is to focus on the warehouse building, size, and equipment. Warehouse size depends on your business plan and what you want to achieve.
If you’re going to lease the parts of the warehouse to different companies, I would recommend using a medium size warehouse of at least 2500 square ft.
It’s not enough to have four walls and a roof over your head to call yourself a warehouse facility. Investing in warehouse equipment suitable for the products you store is essential if you want to preserve them in excellent shape.
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If you have a cold storage warehouse, you’ll need freezers and refrigerators to store food and other grocery items.
The following is a list of necessities for any storage facility:
- Shelving, racking, and carousel systems are all examples of storage options.
- Service carts, forklifts, and pallet jacks are all examples of lifting machinery.
- Belt conveyors and gravity roller conveyors are two common types of conveyors.
5. Building your Team
The next step is to build the right team for your warehouse operations. Since your business is fresh, hire the most important roles and jobs depending on your services. You will need the following to build a good team.
- Manager
- Stock manager
- Distributor
- Shipper/receiver
- Mechanic
- Porter
- Warehousemen
Conveyors lower employee injury risk. Some devices and equipment require a human operator. Here comes your staffing.
In contrast, numerous e-commerce businesses invested in clever robotic solutions for warehousing during the pandemic. If your firm requires it, go ahead.
6. Use WMS for Inventory Management
You need a reliable warehouse management system (WMS) to grow your business. The most efficient and economical flow of goods and commodities through a warehouse is guaranteed by a WMS.
Companies that offer warehousing or third-party logistics services can benefit by using the WMS. These are some of the things you can do with the software:
- Keep inventory orders and shipment tracking.
- Automate your business tasks.
- Add new functions to your business, like GPS tracking, Rfid labels, etc.
- Sharing information with consumers.
Warehouse businesses face a challenge when deciding on the best software to use. Here’s the article to help you find the Best Warehouse Management System.
A WMS allows for real-time tracking of goods moving between storage and delivery points. Warehouses store everything from raw materials to completed items, making them the backbone of the industrial and supply chain sectors.
7. Go to Market Strategy
Finally, you’ll need to create a marketing strategy. Launch an advertising campaign to gather information on your intended audience rapidly. You can experiment with alternative tactics for as little as $20 daily.
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Remember that your advertising strategy’s outcomes could influence your SEO and other promotion types.
If you have a budget of at least $5k per month, you can contact the advertising companies for better advice and marketing strategy.
Additional suggestions for advertising:
- Get in touch with start-ups and give them a good pitch for storing their inventory in your warehouse.
- Create a mailing list to start communicating with your customers. You might have a giveaway and solicit the aid of influential people in your field to spread the word.
- Join the groups to target customers frequently.
- Create social media accounts to promote your warehouses ethically and professionally.
