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On November 25, 2021 by Josh Arrowsmith
Explore more: Experiences & Industry Insights | Case Studies | Testimonials
The UK is experiencing a shortage of warehousing space. This is impacting businesses as it’s not as simple as it used to be to extend your storage capacity, which might be needed for a number of reasons such as business growth, dealing with busy and fallow periods associated with seasonal stock or overcoming potential delivery disruption issues.
With customers unable to expand their own warehousing footprint, more are looking to third-party logistics (3PL) and fulfilment companies like Finishing Line for ‘on-demand warehousing’. Shared warehousing space like ours means a client can scale their space up or down to reflect the peaks and troughs of demand and inventory fluctuations.
To help us make the best use of the space we have available, we have strategies in place that will ensure we are receiving, processing, storing and distributing stock as efficiently as possible, and giving real-time visibility of stock levels whenever you need to know the answers.
The pandemic clearly has had an impact in terms of availability of product and subsequent issues with distribution, but there are also a number of other factors.
There is a chronic lack of warehousing space – something that could potentially be addressed by the change of use of vacant retail space – with the development of new units not keeping pace with changing customer behaviours.
Amazon has clearly had a significant impact in our cultural shopping habits, and has potentially irredeemably impacted the customer expectation on delivery timeframes, leading to greater demands on stock holding.
There are many more reasons, but if you are interested in finding out more about the steps we’re taking to optimise the space that is available and how it is benefiting our customers, read on. Alternatively, you can read more about what are some of the other factors squeezing the space by reading this article.
As we offer fulfilment services as well as warehousing, we have more access to potential space and greater flexibility to utilise this as needed by our clients, as the current situation requires. At any given time, should we have more warehousing clients than fulfilment clients, we can review the space allocation and rework it as necessary to provide more warehousing space, and vice versa.
Re-engineering the use of space is also key. We have looked to re-work pallets to optimise space allocation – in some cases, we have been able to reduce 20 pallets down to 14, without compromising the client, their products or our processes. Sometimes the simple approach is the most effective…
Due to their levels of experience, our team can quickly turnaround goods in and goods out. This prevents pallets being held up on their journey or reducing available space for further deliveries. With drivers of our own, we are able to move stock from one site to another without relying on external support.
Decades of operational experience behind us ensure that stock is stored correctly, reducing the potential for damage that could otherwise occur in a busy environment with a less professional approach.
Whether a new client or a long-standing client, we work with you to ensure that you have the space that your business requires. That might involve us notifying you of stock that has been held for long periods of time with no action, or that there might be more space-efficient ways to re-pallet the stock.
Our reporting functionality works especially well for our eCommerce fulfilment clients, whose intention is not to have stock in long-term storage. Tenevo, our CRM system, allows clients to set stock level alerts of items in storage, these alerts notify them of inactive stock in order to ensure they aren’t wasting money unnecessarily on dormant stock and prompt them to make a decision on how they can alleviate the stock count e.g. put on a promotion to encourage sales.
We are invested in building long-term relationships with clients and always find there is a lot to be gained from being proactive.
Our client portal, Tenevo, enables our clients to have immediate access to their dashboard to aid decision-making. They have the ability to log on around the clock, to suit flexible work patterns, and access information on stock being held for products across multiple eCommerce platforms.
This aggregation of data from multiple platforms also enables the quick review of live orders, which aids the forecasting of future stock replenishment as well as stock removal. The ability to easily submit an advanced shipping notice (ASN) as well as a collection notice helps clients to operate a lean model across their supply chains. You can set Tenevo up to send stock alerts at relevant points so that you store what’s needed to ensure a continuous supply.
This level of visibility has enabled clients to save storage requirements by combining held stock, or by removing stock that is not currently relevant.
If online portals aren’t for you, our client managers work across our contract packing, fulfilment and warehousing operations so they are knowledgeable about both sides and can advise on available space, re-engineering the stock or space you have, sharing stock across fulfilment and warehouse storage, and other ways to maximise the space you have.
Having a long-standing reputation for being a fair employer puts clients in a strong position to confidently forecast their own projects, being assured that the support is there.
At Finishing Line, we are always looking at new ways to facilitate the fulfilment needs of all our clients, and will always try to successfully onboard as many potential clients who are interested in the services that we provide. We understand that optimisation, speed, and efficiency are some of the most vital aspects that our clients must receive from our services; and we are consistently delivering.
If you are looking to find extra space, or for a partner that works with you to make the most of what you have, please contact us today. We have decades of experience in ecommerce fulfilment, returns management, contract packing and warehouse management, and will advise on how to optimise your warehouse space.
Please get in touch with us, send a live chat message, or call +44 (0)1268 498 950
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