Your business’ future starts with how you plan for it today. Whether you have run your small business for a while or are a new entrepreneur, you still should think about where you want your company to go. Half of American small businesses start at home. However, in order to successfully grow your business, separating your business from your home is important. With a small warehouse, your business will have the extra space for products and a professional base for operations to scale up.

What Is a Small Warehouse Space?

Small warehouse space is a cost-effective option for a small business that needs to increase its inventory storage, organize products, or secure its goods. Compared to a home garage, a small warehouse space offers much more room that has complete dedication to your business. This extra space allows your small business to increase inventory, improve organization, and dedicate space to packing and shipping.

How to Find a Small Warehouse for Rent

A small warehouse space should fulfill your business’ requirements for operations, location, amenities, and design. Examine your small business and what you want it to become in the future to help decide the features you require a small warehouse space to have.

Determine What You Need from a Small Warehouse Space

Spend time before you start your search identifying specifically what your business requires of a rented small warehouse space.

What type of business do you have? Do you have a service company that needs storage for repair or replacement parts? Or do you need storage for products you sell online? For instance, if you run a furniture company, how much space do you need to store the beds, desks, chairs, and tables you sell? This type of warehouse may need more space than a small business selling handmade jewelry.

What do you need warehouse space for? Do you need to store a full inventory in your warehouse? Will you need extra space during seasonal surges? For instance, if you sell Christmas décor, you may need to stock extra products during the second half of the year to meet the incoming demand for wreaths, trees, and ornaments.

Do you regularly receive or send out large orders? Will you require access to a loading dock for truck deliveries?

Having specific requirements in mind will make narrowing down your options for small warehouse spaces faster and easier.

Find the Best Location for Your Small Business

To find the best location for your small warehouse space, you need to know what aspects of your business operation you want to emphasize. Finding a location that shortens delivery times or response times to buyers can improve your ratings with your existing customer base and encourage repeat business.

Do you sell products online and ship them to customers? Delivery times may play a role in your location choice. Ecommerce delivery times are shrinking quickly. By 2028, retailers surveyed thought they would need to offer two-hour delivery. While that tight timeline for delivery does not yet exist, 80% of customers today desire same-day deliveries. To expedite your shipments, choose a warehouse location near major roadways or airports.

Does your small business need to get to clients’ homes to quickly respond to service calls? Some businesses require proximity to customers. For instance, if you offer home cleaning services, you may want to locate your warehouse near the majority of your clients. Your employees can pick up supplies from your warehouse and get to clients’ homes faster. A retail location closer to customers also shortens delivery times.

The location of your rented small warehouse space will help your business to fulfill your customers’ needs as quickly as possible, whether they order products online or need your services locally. WareSpace has small warehouses throughout the US. Visit our locations page to see which one is right for you.

Decide What Amenities Are Must-Haves

The amenities can turn a warehouse into a productive work site if you use them effectively. These perks caninclude conference rooms, secure Wi-Fi, warehouse equipment, on-site security, and electricity in each warehouse space. What types of amenities do you have to have for your business to run properly?

If you buy and sell products, you may need to have loading dock access and equipment for moving products to your small warehouse space. The loading dock should also have ample space next to it for delivery trucks to turn around safely and road access that permits heavy trucks to reach the facility.

Do you have employees you need to regularly meet with? Having a meeting space within the warehouse building gives you a professional place to gather with your staff. Kitchens and lounges provide you and your employees with places to unwind during breaks.

What about security and access? Will you need to have access to your warehouse 24/7? Do you need the peace of mind that comes with on-site security for your small warehouse space?

Virtually Research and Visit the Property

With facility websites, you have the option to learn more about the small warehouse spaces you have under consideration. Reach out to the facility using a contact form to ensure that you have as much information about the property as possible.

Sort through the information to find one or two sites to visit in person. Ask about rental costs, fees, square footage, amenities and rental timelines during your visit. After a tour of the facility, you can decide if it will suit your business’s needs.

Benefits of Upgrading to a Small Warehouse Space

Moving from your home to a small warehouse gives your business several advantages. These benefits can help smooth the transitions into future growth for your small business.

Scalability

With a small warehouse space, you will have scalability options that you would lack if you continued operations from your home. Home-based businesses have the limitation of the amount of available space for growth. Using a garage does not provide you with the extra room your business will need for stocking more products as you grow. Without the ability to expand beyond your limited home space, you may stunt your small business’s growth opportunities.

Small warehouse space lets you increase your inventory. You can open your business to a greater variety of products and sales. Plus, by choosing a shared warehouse space with multiple sizes available, you can later pick one of our larger options for your small business as your operation grows.

Professional Space

Your business deserves a professional space for operations, especially if you have employees. Meetings around your kitchen table won’t have the same gravitas as those that you hold in a professional meeting room. With a rented small warehouse space, you can run your small business, store your entire inventory, host meetings in the conference room, and send and receive shipments from one location outside your home.

Additionally, having a business site separate from your home may help your mental health by making it easier to separate your lives at home and work.

Better Organization

You may not have the space or money for industrial-grade racking in your home. However, this professional solution allows you to clearly see your inventory and keep every product stored securely. When you upgrade to a rented warehouse space, you can use quality racking to keep your inventory off the floor and neatly organized.

With good storage and organization, you can pick products to fulfill orders much faster. Plus, racks keep products protected from damage caused by improper storage in a home garage.

Inventory Security

Security for your inventory is vital to reducing losses for your business. Secure warehouse space should only permit authorized access to your unit. Additionally, it should include on-site security. These features protect your products from the human threats of thieves and vandals.

Straightforward Payments

What sets smaller storage spaces apart from large warehouses is the ability to rent them at a reasonable rate. Renting a full warehouse for your business requires you to pay operation costs, climate control, electricity, security, and cleaning costs. With a small warehouse space, these operation costs come included with the space rent. The all-in-one pricing of small shared warehouse spaces makes renting one simple for small business owners.

How WareSpace Can Help You to Find a Small Warehouse Space for Rent

Give your business the boost it needs by upgrading to a small warehouse space. When looking for a small warehouse space for rent, check out WareSpace. You’ll find simple, upfront, all-in-one pricing that includes a variety of amenities other places lack.

Visit WareSpace to find out more about our small warehouse benefits and how your business can benefit from them. Small warehouse space and its accompanying amenities at WareSpace give you the room and tools needed to help your business grow. Are you ready to take your small business into a profitable future?

Ecommerce sales have been on the rise for the last several years. The pandemic triggered a rapid acceleration in growth among online retailers, with sales in 2020 increasing by 43% compared to 2019. Today, the growth of ecommerce continues. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of the third quarter of 2022, ecommerce continued to grow, showing a 10.8% increase from the same quarter of the previous year. Your ecommerce business can grow with the industry, but you must think about how you store your inventory and seriously consider the benefits of having warehouse space for ecommerce companies.

What Is eCommerce Warehousing?

Ecommerce warehousing solutions offer several benefits for online retailers including space needed to store, sort, and ship products they sell online. 

Why Moving Your eCommerce Company from a Garage or Living Room to a Small Warehouse Space Is Beneficial

Your home only has so much space available for you to live in and run a business. Reaching your home’s storage capacity, by filling any free space with inventory for your e-commerce business, limits the amount that you can sell. Plus, by having goods in multiple spots around your home, you have a greater chance of losing track of what you have available in your inventory and when you need to reorder products.

Ecommerce warehousing solutions provide the answer for many small businesses needing storage space. Not all businesses need large warehouses. Learn why WareSpace’s small warehouses are perfect for your ecommerce warehousing needs. Our options allow you to select a warehouse space that matches your volume of inventory. When moving from your home and into a warehouse for the first time, you will likely find that a small warehouse space is sufficient for your storage needs. As your business grows, your warehouse space should, too. Scalable warehousing means that you can choose a larger or smaller warehouse space as your business needs change.

In brief, moving from your home into a warehouse provides you with the advantages other businesses have and helps you to compete among other ecommerce retailers.

6 Benefits of Having Warehousing for eCommerce Businesses

When considering whether ecommerce warehousing solutions are right for your business model, consider your budget, time, and supply needs. Also, recognize that you can gain significant advantages by moving your ecommerce business operations and inventory into a small warehouse space.

1. Ship from Locations Closer to Your Customers

If you want to become affiliated with Amazon through its Seller Fulfilled Prime program, you must have the ability to prepare, package, and deliver orders within two days. This strict requirement stems from the company’s overall ability to meet those short deadlines in its own deliveries. For a small business to meet this type of shipping requirement, you should have a facility that can keep your inventory sorted and ready to package and ship at a moment’s notice. Plus, the warehouse location allows you to position it closer to your customers, thus shortening delivery time. Even if you don’t partner with Amazon, you should still work toward reducing delivery times to keep customers happy. One way to do so is by using a warehouse from which to send your products.

2. Keep Your Inventory Secure

Inventory is a major component of your ecommerce business’ budget. In fact, startup companies may spend between 25% and 35% of their operating budget on inventory. With such a deep investment in the goods you sell, you need to keep them secure. Ideally, you should select an ecommerce warehousing facility that offers 24/7 security with video monitoring of the premises and access control of your space. With these control measures, you can have greater peace of mind that your inventory will be available and protected from theft.

3.  Reduce Costs

Cost efficiency is a significant benefit of ecommerce warehousing, thanks to the integration of advanced technologies that simplify the complex task of inventory management. This streamlined approach can drastically reduce operational costs, providing several key advantages.

• Streamline Processes: Ecommerce warehousing enables businesses to use their resources more effectively. By leveraging technology for inventory tracking and order processing, companies can allocate their resources—such as goods, manpower, and storage space—more efficiently. This smart allocation reduces unnecessary expenses and maximizes productivity.
• Efficiency: Ecommerce warehouses are designed for efficiency at every step, from storing to shipping. By eliminating wasted space and unnecessary handling, these streamlined processes reduce costs and create a leaner supply chain. This efficiency translates into faster, more reliable deliveries, which can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Minimize Waste and Expenses: Effective inventory management and order fulfillment in ecommerce warehousing minimize waste. Precise control over stock levels reduces the risk of overstocking or understocking, leading to significant cost savings and promoting a more sustainable business model. This approach not only cuts expenses but also supports greener operations.

Investing in ecommerce warehousing can lead to substantial cost savings through optimized resource use, minimized waste, and efficient storage and shipping practices. These advantages make ecommerce warehousing a smart choice for businesses looking to enhance their cost efficiency and overall operational effectiveness.

4. Improve Inventory Organization

Homes, garages, and even self-storage units that store inventory for the smallest of new ecommerce businesses don’t offer space to organize or sort products. With a dedicated small warehouse space to organize products, the chance of losing inventory items in clutter drops. An organized warehouse allows for systematic storage, where items are easily accessible and can be efficiently managed. This level of organization not only reduces the risk of misplaced items but also speeds up the order fulfillment process, enhancing overall operational efficiency.

5. Efficient Warehouse Management Tactics

To start using a warehouse management system (WMS), you need to know what you have in your inventory. With an organized ecommerce warehouse storing all your goods, you can more quickly account for all the inventory goods you have. Use this information to facilitate the setup of your WMS, which you can connect to your ecommerce site to further make selling products and buying inventory even easier. Additionally, modern WMS technology can automate various aspects of inventory management, such as real-time tracking, demand forecasting, and reorder alerts, ensuring you always have the right products in stock without overcommitting resources.

6. Increase Inventory in Scalable Spaces

While your home has a limited amount of space, ecommerce warehouse solutions offer a variety of sizes. As your business grows, you can move into a larger warehouse facility with ease. Similarly, if you need to scale back on your inventory, you can switch to a smaller warehouse space. Ecommerce warehousing is designed to be adaptable, allowing for quick adjustments in processes, storage, and logistics to meet changing demands. During periods of growth or seasonal peaks, these warehouses can efficiently manage increased product volumes, ensuring a smooth transition from order placement to delivery without delays. The ability to scale up or down is crucial for handling promotional surges or steady growth, maintaining high standards of efficiency and customer satisfaction.

What Happens If You Don’t Seek eCommerce Warehouse Solutions for Your Business

While ecommerce warehousing offers several advantages for businesses, few online retailers recognize the dangers of not expanding into a small warehouse space. If you keep running your business out of your home, as your retail sales grow, you will face many problems that could impact your bottom line.

1. Hit a Growth Ceiling

Your ecommerce business could hit a growth ceiling. Without storing your inventory in an ecommerce warehouse, you will only be able to grow your business as much as the space in your home allows you to keep your products. Over time, your family members may not like that your business has overtaken the house or garage.

2. Lose Inventory and Money

Another danger of not having a small warehouse space for your ecommerce business is losing money due to poor organization. Not having an organized warehouse for your ecommerce inventory makes losing inventory items more likely. Similarly, reordering products before you need them means that you will have used money and wasted space with excessive products in your home storage.

3. Waste Time

Finally, time and money are intricately linked in the business world, including for small ecommerce businesses. Therefore, anything that wastes time also will cost you money because you will not be able to spend as much of your attention on building customer relationships and improving your business. Wasting time finding inventory items, not knowing what you have on hand, or needing to contact customers because of out-of-stock products all can cost your ecommerce business money.

Your Space Is Ready

Take the chance to expand your ecommerce business by moving your inventory into a small warehouse space. You’ll reap the benefits of a better organized and more secure area for your goods. Why wait any longer to make your move toward greater growth? Your space is ready at WareSpace.