How to open a wholesale warehouse
Video: How to Start a Wholesale Business in 2021 2024, July
The creation of new warehouse complexes is a natural step towards the development of a trading or trading and manufacturing company. It is convenient and profitable to have wholesale warehouses in those regions where your branches operate or dealers work. Therefore, if you, as the head of a representative office opening somewhere, the company management will entrust the organization of the warehouse - do not be surprised.
You will need
- - A detailed business plan for the new wholesale warehouse;
- - a building (which you can rent or build yourself);
- - warehouse equipment ordered in accordance with the calculations;
- - staff (5-10 people);
- - a package of permits.
Instruction manual
1
Gather all the information on sales in this region, understand the dynamics of their development. Be sure to consult your local dealers or representatives of your company. Before taking at least some steps to organize the warehouse, make a business plan with the most detailed financial information.
2
Decide which location for the warehouse will be optimal, and only then look for the finished building for the warehouse complex or the land for its construction. A supply chain with all the details should be in your head - only then will you be able to understand the strategic expediency of this or that location. If you want to rent a room, make sure that it is suitable for the storage device of the type that you require, that is, a wholesale terminal.
3
Use the services of a consultant in the field of warehouse logistics if you are not an expert yourself. Having a building (built or rented), begin work with the organization of storage space - divide it into sections (loading and unloading section, reception area, storage area and cargo picking area). Calculate what kind of storage equipment you need - for this, use the full information about the assortment of goods and materials with which you deal, and their overall dimensions.
4
Recruit a team of warehouse workers, who are not so few at the wholesale warehouse. However, the main thing is to find a warehouse manager, who will then search for people for further work. You will need five people according to the most conservative estimates, sometimes up to ten people serve the warehouse complex.
Useful advice
Do not treat warehouse work as a secondary matter and trust it only to professionals, try to use all modern methods of warehouse management (including a WMS system).
Access roads to your wholesale warehouse should be as convenient and always free as possible, so it’s better to arrange a warehouse on the outskirts of the city so that your transport does not stand for hours in traffic jams.
