Maybe you’re a small to medium business? Possibly the rise of e-commerce has seen a dramatic demand for your goods? Whatever the reason, you wouldn’t be alone in Australian businesses seeking third-party logistic providers (3PLs) to serve your customers.
When faced with the problem of finding a reliable 3PL, many businesses consider the cost.
Is it worth the price of outsourcing our warehousing?
Could we spread our costs across a couple of different logistics service providers?
They’re all valid questions, so rather than just saying you should invest in a 3PL we have the top five reasons why it’s well worth your time.
Warehousing is now fully customisable
If you were sceptical that 3PLs could really understand the requirements for your business, then you would be glad to know their approach to warehousing is incredibly innovative.
It wasn’t too long along that businesses would pay simply for space – no matter how big or small – to store their items. These spaces were ‘reasonably safe’, but by no means have the same security that warehouse operators provide today.
In response to the growing demand for flexible warehousing options, 3PLs now provide customisable warehouses that suit what your business needs.
To understand what your business needs, 3PLs work hard to research your business and what makes you different. This research means that they can identify what features are advantageous to your business, and what need to be developed to work more efficiently.
Scalability and flexibility is a must
Much like warehousing being customisable, operators are responding to the dynamic nature of businesses with ensuring their options are scalable.
What does this mean?
As any business owner would know, there are parts of the year where orders are booming and months when the lows hit.
It makes no economic sense for businesses to invest in a warehousing service that only suit the periods where you need plenty of space. What happens during the troughs where you don’t need that space?
That’s the entire point of scalability and flexibility.
Australian 3PLs now provide you with flexible solutions so during peak times they can scale your storage up and during quieter times, it can be reduced to the space you need.
You’re ultimately saving money
No, this isn’t an exaggeration.
With scalability, flexibility, and customisable opportunities, it no longer means you’re paying for space you don’t need.
3PLs now offer extremely competitive quotes to reflect the volumes of the storage you need, but also meet the budget the client is working within.
As we previously wrote on warehousing having responsive facility design and operation, “[3PLs are] saving their clients’ businesses tens of thousands of dollars a year in storage costs alone, just by circumventing seasonal peaks and troughs with scalable warehousing solutions: businesses… no longer need to pay for storage they’re not using.”
It promotes efficient and sustainable systems
Having efficient inventory management systems have become a central characteristic of the present-day warehousing solutions.
Unlike ordinary logistic services, 3PLs have developed advanced systems that are equipped to handle the various data components to your business.
As an example, 3PLs have now adopted barcoded systems with your storage keeping units (SKUs). This means that your inventory is not just accounted for in a basic Excel spreadsheet or even a notepad, but specialised identification for each item in storage. This not only means a more comprehensive service is offered, but it also indicates that 3PLs are kept accountable to your goods.
Don’t think this is the only way that 3PLs promote efficiency within their warehousing options. Other features include strategically storing your goods (so no space is wasted, and savings are made for you), implementing Warehouse Management systems, allowing 27/7 access, and extensive tracking.
You can focus on your job, while 3PLs do theirs
As we mentioned at the beginning, many businesses may try to save costs by spreading their storage across different logistics providers.
Not only does that mean they don’t receive the benefits of 3PLs that we have already discussed, but it also results in time wasted on managing those services.
When you employ a 3PL for warehousing, you also hand over a number of other responsibilities, such as inventory management or modifying space arrangements. All of these features are comprehensively provided by 3PLs, which is what they are best at doing for you and your business.
While they’re focused on providing services to you, you can go back to your own business.
Not only is this convenient, but it’s saving you time.
Many individuals are surprised to learn of the extensive, innovative, and efficient features of 3PLs. They are designed to understand the needs of your business and provide suitable options.
The experience of S.A.L. Global Logistics in 3PL services make us experts in the industry. Contact us anytime to learn more about the warehousing solutions that we can provide you, or any other questions about the services we offer.
