Types of Warehouses and Why You Need One

The warehouse business is now growing exponentially; recent statistics show that the number of private warehouses is increasing by each year! In only a decade, we have seen an increase by thousands in the number of warehouses worldwide. This shows that if you want to step into this highly competitive market, you must have all the knowledge of how business works around here. In this case, the first thing to know is the types of warehouses.

Warehousing is not as simple as one might think – it has a lot of diversification, and the varieties of warehouses we see today all come with a niche of their own. Owning the right warehouse is important, so here are four types of warehouses and why you need them.

4 Types of Warehouses

1. Distribution Centre

Distribution centres are warehouses that are larger in size than other warehouses. Nowadays, average distribution centres are above 600,000 square feet and are currently growing further in size. These warehouses allow faster movement of large quantities of goods and items in a short time.

Distribution centres are an important part of the supply chain. Most also come with computerised control, resulting in higher efficiency.

Why Choose It  

• More storage capacity
• Better efficiency of operations

2. Private Warehouse

According to their name, private warehouses are privately owned by large retail corporations, manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors. This type of warehousing is also known as proprietary warehousing. It requires capital investments by the owner and, in the long run, it can be quite cost-effective, making it a good choice for well-established companies.

Why Choose It:

• Better regional presence
• The long-term cost is low

3. Public Warehouse

Unlike private warehouses, public warehouses are owned by the government or semi-governmental bodies. These warehouses are lent out to private companies, so they stock up their goods in exchange for rent.

This is a good option for small-scale e-commerce companies and startups that cannot invest in their own warehouse and also need a reliable space to stock their goods for a short period.

Why Choose It:

• Open accessibility
• Affordable choice

4. Consolidated Warehouse

These types of warehouses are third-party storage facilities where small shipments are collected from various suppliers. They are then combined into one big and more economical truckload, which is bound for a similar geographical location. This allows startups who do not have a large inventory and don’t own their own warehouse, of course.

Why Choose It

• No capital investment required
• Economies of scale

3PLWOW Offers Their Warehouse

Owning and managing a warehouse is a challenging task, especially for a small-scale e-commerce business or an e-commerce startup. Collecting the funds to buy a warehouse, hiring enough staff to carry out operations, and taking out time to manage can be a huge challenge, especially at the beginning stage of your business. Therefore, the best solution, in this case, would be to work with a consolidated warehouse – a warehouse or storage facility owned by a third party.

If you are looking for one, don’t look any further. 3PLWOW is a third-party order fulfilment company that owns a 180,000 square feet warehouse that you can use for inventory storage at affordable rates!