Warehouse and fulfilment centres are buildings where inventory for businesses are stored in bulk quantity. Third-party warehouses are offered to businesses with a long-term agreement and are more intended for business rather than business to business (B2B) or business to customer (B2C) logistics. If you need an area to store goods and products for a long-term, then choosing a warehouse is the wise option. However, if your goods and products are often moved to other locations, fulfilment will be a better option.
Warehouses lease out the housing facility for inventories on a long-term basis and no matter whether
you use the space or not, charges will remain the same depending on the area. This may usher to loss
if you are working with an e-commerce platform or if your business relies on retail orders. A
fulfilment centre can act as a warehouse sometimes, but a warehouse will not act as a fulfilment
centre. A fulfilment centre has facilities to provide real-time tracking of inventory, packing &
delivery with the least possible turnaround time. You cannot expect such facilities from a
warehouse. A fulfilment centre is oriented to store the inventory, process the orders, pick and pack
items, labels them, etc., through a single channel.
These processes are the major difference that makes fulfilment different from warehousing. Warehouses are not meant to ship the product to customers. So if your business needs to move goods regularly to customers, fulfilment centre can make it for you. Best fulfillment centres like Depoter provide the service with zero upfront cost and no/limited monthly costs. Whereas in the warehouses you may have to pay an initial setup cost, maintenance cost, fixed monthly cost, etc. The type of storage house that best suits a business depends upon the type of business that you are running. If you are just looking for storage space for your business inventories for the long-term, find a warehouse economically. If you are working with an e-commerce platform or as an online store, you’re advised to choose a fulfilment centre. This is a lucrative option as you can invest more time in managing your business and increasing sales.
