WAREHOUSE STORAGE

Warehousing is an important piece of your supply chain. While it’s not the sexiest of subjects, warehousing and inventory storage affect everything from sourcing raw materials and, efficiently managing inventory, to getting orders delivered to customers on time.

Though the principles of warehousing have not changed much over the years, warehousing solutions have evolved a lot.

With new technologies, urbanization, and the ever-growing world of online shopping, warehousing has never been a hotter topic — so much so that there has even been a shortage of warehouse space and on-demand warehousing popping up.

Read on to learn the ins and outs of warehousing and how inbound and outbound logistics play into running a business.

What is Warehousing?

Warehousing is the process of storing physical goods before they are sold or further distributed. Warehouses safely and securely store products in an organized way to track where items are located, when they arrived, how long they have been there, and the quantity on hand.

For small or new businesses, warehousing may be done from home until they outgrow the space. At that point, a business will have to rent storage space, lease a warehouse, or outsource logistics to a third-party and store inventory in their facility.

In ecommerce, products are stored until an order is placed online, at which point the order is shipped directly to the consumer from the facility in which it was stored. In traditional retail, inventory may be temporarily stored in a warehouse before it’s shipped to a brick and mortar store.