The ability to ensure the timely delivery of ordered products is an important criterion that is often used to judge the performance of an e-commerce company. It would not be wrong to say that the choice of the Warehousing Services selected has a profound bearing on the success of the same. Thus this is that aspect of business which needs careful deliberation especially on certain key criteria like:
· Location: This is a critical determining factor since it has a great bearing on the efficiency and ease with which products of an e-commerce company are stored and transported. A warehouse location with easy access to such transportation routes like shipping ports, railways, airports, and main motorways has the ability to bring enormous success to the company it caters to. In fact since the choice of the warehouse location has an impact on the growth goals of a company, both short-term and long-term needs of the company need to be taken into consideration for the final decision. Another factor that determines the choice of warehouse location is the size of the company that needs to be catered to. Thus for:
o Small and medium-sized companies, the warehouse location should be near to their customer base and
o For large, multi-market companies, regional catering demands need to be primarily taken into consideration.
· Type of warehouse: This choice is primarily defined by two factors namely:
o Timeframe: This defines the time for which the customer’s product is to be stored in the warehouse. Thus for:
§ Products which enjoy seasonal fluctuations, public warehousing solutions which provide and charge for short-term storage on a monthly basis, are the best choice and
§ Products needling long-term storage ideally require contract warehouses wherein the storage and subsequent shipping of goods and products are done on a contractual basis.
o Costs involved: This is determined by several factors like the storage term, the type of goods stored, the fulfillment needs it requires, etc. The cost involved is generally high for high-maintenance products, heavy products which need special equipment to maneuver, etc., and it would obviously be less when the storage time is short.
· Services offered: Top Warehousing Companies In India generally offer either all the services mentioned below or a combination of the same. These services include:
o The amount of space available for leasing,
o The number of staff currently employed and their efficiency in handling varied products,
o The equipment capacity of the warehouse which defines their ability to maneuver both inbound and outbound products,
o Climate controlling ability wherein humidity and temperature controls can be enabled for certain sensitive products,
o Sterile storage for storing sensitive chemicals and delicate electronic items in isolation,
o Processing of the orders and enabling assembly of the ordered products,
o Labeling of products as per the categories defined and needed by the client companies,
o Inventory management including order fulfillment and reporting in the required format,
o Insurance offered for products coming in and going out of the warehouse etc.
· Product management: This defines the involvement of the warehouse service provider with regards to the fulfillment of any order that needs to be executed by their client company. In order to determine the same, specific needs of the supplier or seller needs to be considered and the warehousing company judged on the basis of their ability to satisfy the same. The effectiveness of the product management and warehouse management system that has been implemented in the warehouse and is being currently used also needs to be looked into.
Thus it would not be wrong to say that a healthy combination of all the factors mentioned above would make for an ideal choice of the warehousing service chosen. In fact, most good Warehousing Companies In India also ensure good communicative skills along with the factors mentioned above thereby facilitating the perfect partnership between the seller and the warehousing company.
