Let’s look at the costs that are associated with managing your own eCommerce logistics, and what this means for your business.
Your own time
When undertaken yourself, you can end up spending countless hours managing your own eCommerce logistics. You’re responsible for picking and packing your own products, ordering couriers and sorting out postage, and liaising with customers—which is all time you could otherwise be spending generating new product lines or further developing your business.
Warehouse and storage costs
When you rent a warehouse You’ll still pay the same rate if you have more or less stock in there—so seasonal fluctuations can cost you, and you end up spending more for products you’re not actually selling.
Or perhaps you own your own warehouse. You spend money on the upkeep of the space, managing the overheads and costs like electricity and water. And while it’s the right size at the moment, you know you’re going to end up paying more if you have to look for a larger space as your inventory grows.
Warehouse staff
When you hire staff to manage your warehouse and pick and pack your products, you need to have the money to pay staff wages, including overtime and holiday pay. To keep the quality of service at an optimum level you might pay for staff training. And even right at the beginning, you’re paying a premium on your search for staff to manage your products.
Even if you’re renting space in a warehouse, you have to include staff rates in your warehouse bills.
Equipment costs
You want to ensure that your warehouse has the equipment to efficiently manage your products. So you pay money to ensure you have the right equipment and machinery to achieve this. It could be heavy machinery, such as forklifts, or personal technology equipment like barcode scanners and tablets.
But not only that, you need to pay for training to ensure your staff can use your equipment, as well as ongoing maintenance and repair costs, upgrades, and safety checks.
Software
The right inventory management software is crucial to ensuring your logistics work properly, so you’ll have to factor in the price for ongoing inventory management software subscriptions, server hosting, and cybersecurity platforms.
Insurance
Warehouses have the potential to be a dangerous place, so insurance for your staff is critical to cover yourself and your business against any liability.
Packaging materials
On top of all the big ticket items, there’s the day-to-day costs of running the warehouse that you need to pay for, too. Things like packing tape, boxes, envelopes, packing wrap, void fillers like packing beans—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
A 3PL warehouse partner takes care of the costs for you
Engaging a 3PL fulfilment provider like Max Packer 3PL helps you consolidate your eCommerce logistics costs into one single price: one bill for the full range of services, run by one centralised, expert team.
You can take advantage of…
Flexible warehousing solutions
Don’t waste money on empty shelves. At Max Packer 3PL you only pay for the space you need.
We provide a solution that grows as your inventory does. We have the space and capacity to accommodate swift growth, or seasonal troughs. You don’t worry about having to find a new space to store your inventory—it’s all taken care of for you.
Any warehouse overheads are included as a percentage of your engagement cost, too, so you’re able to take these out of your budget equation.
Fully-equipped spaces
As you’re working with a professional 3PL warehouse partner, we already have the equipment and tools to undertake your picking, packing, and posting. You don’t have to pay for upkeep, inspections, or repairs for any equipment, or manage any technology upgrades such as new barcode scanning tools, or migrating to QR codes.
Our service also includes access to our comprehensive warehouse management software, which means that you don’t have to worry about weighing up the pros and cons of which software is best suited to your business.
Our warehouse management software can integrate seamlessly with your sales platform, so all your sales data and product movements are captured quickly and accurately.
An expert team
One of the big reasons that you might choose to pay more for a good 3PL warehouse partner is their team. A good 3PL warehouse team is worth their weight in gold.
When working with a 3PL partner you don’t have to worry about searching for staff, or hiring the right people. A 3PL warehouse’s reputation is built on the skill and experience of their staff, so they take the time to train and upskill them, and even includes insurance to make sure they’re covered for any event.
At Max Packer 3PL we’ve hand-picked our specialist team of warehouse staff. They’re fully-trained, accurate, and methodical, and understand the importance of getting orders out right, every time.
Your entire logistics needs managed for you
Working with a 3PL warehouse partner means that you can trust your eCommerce needs to the experts. Say goodbye to long, late nights picking and packing your own products. No more time trying to find the best rate for your shipping.
When you work with Max Packer 3PL, we take responsibility for the entirety of your logistics suite. You get peace of mind that you can grow your inventory quickly, or over time, and you’ll always have the space to accommodate it. You can rely on our negotiated freight services to provide better shipping rates to your customers.
Stop wasting money on warehouse space you don’t use, or spending time dealing with customer returns and stock management. Max Packer 3PL takes the headache out of your logistics, and manages it all for you, while providing a streamlined, cost-effective service, with a competitive price that takes your entire 3PL service into account. So get in touch with us today to discuss a 3PL solution for your business, and see the difference it makes to your bottom line.