Having efficient and effective logistics is crucial for anyone who is thinking of setting up an eCommerce business. An eCommerce warehouse is one of the key parts of your logistics operations. It includes taking in shipments from suppliers, holding inventory, and sending packages out to customers. This is one of the major reasons people use the warehousing management system.
Not to mention how well you handle this part of your business directly affects delivery speeds, customer satisfaction, return rates, and basically, your bottom line results. Moreover, an efficient warehouse impacts the amount of space you require to lease, control, and insure, and also the labor (employee) you have to hire.
So, we brought a few important steps that you can follow to set up an efficient eCommerce warehouse:
Decide Your eCommerce Warehouse Space Requirements
A winning warehouse setup begins with determining your requirements. An ideal place to start is by calculating the cartons and pallets that you plan on storing at your warehouse. And later, multiplying that sum by the footprint of those specific items.
If you get a huge figure, no need to get alarmed. Keep in your mind, that your warehouse space should be decided in terms of cubic feet because you will be using vertical space in several shelving systems. Also, in addition to inventory space, don’t forget to consider other parts of your operation. This gives sufficient space for, shipping and receiving, forward staging, and returns processing.
Create a List of Important Warehouse Equipment
With a good spacious building, you’ll also want to opt for the right warehouse equipment to suit your particular requirements. Most eCommerce warehouses have the same goals: maximize space, improve efficiency, cut costs, and increase visibility.
Choose the Right Warehouse Automation Solutions
If you’re setting up or upgrading an eCommerce warehouse, you would definitely want to include some automation solutions or logistics software. As warehouse automation comes among the best ways to easily improve your warehouse efficiency and overall results. And you will be amazed to find that it doesn’t necessarily involve a costly operation with robots doing all the work.
For instance, various eCommerce warehouses use RFID tags for their goods and equipment. These labels help in sending real-time data to your business about an item’s location, expiration date, size, history, and many more.
Choose a Warehouse Management System (WMS)
Can you imagine modern warehouses operating using clipboards or spreadsheets? No, right? So, if you want the best results for your business, there’s no excuse for not using a warehouse management system provided by BoxOn. Basically, it is an online system that controls your overall operations. It includes features like inventory, shipping, and receiving control, pick and pack workflow management, and scalability.
Optimize Your Picking Paths
Another step is to take into account all the paths that products will take through your warehouse. And a good warehouse management system will enable you to choose the best paths for your warehouse, eliminating the guesswork of doing this manually.
Integrate Your Technology Solutions
If you are taking time out to design, purchase, and install all these systems, it would be great if they provide you with the result that can help you reach your final goal: warehouse efficiency. Therefore, you need to ensure that you implement your new warehouse management system with your automation solutions.
Make Warehouse Guidelines
Before hiring your staff, try to create your warehouse processes and guidelines. This will be a detailed path of your procedures and rules to keep your employees on track and safe.
It includes:
Workflow
How items move around your warehouse majorly depends on your setup. Some part of it is up to interpretation. Make sure that you outline things, such as how quickly products should be put away and any other areas of uncertainty.
Quality Control
Make specific guidelines for quality control at every stage of your operation.
Safety
Create safety procedures that follow up with OSHA and other guidelines and then train employees on them.
Conclusion
Whether you are at the peak of your business where your eCommerce business is flourishing with orders, or you are still in the planning phase of your first warehouse space, the structure and outfit of your eCommerce warehouse are important components for your overall success. Hence, try to follow up with these best practices to set up your eCommerce warehouse to make your business run as smoothly as possible.
So, if you want to know more about our warehouse management system, register here!
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