5 Tips to Consider While Choosing a Warehouse Space for Rent

Choosing the right warehouse space for your business needs could be an arduous task without correct guidance. The right space determines your company’s ability to offer effective services to your customers. Having an ideal warehouse space for rent is one of the primary needs of a company as their inventory or fulfillment requirements are taken care of seamlessly while they focus on their core business areas.

It is highly recommended that you take time and undergo a thorough analysis before freezing a warehouse space for rent. Here are a few tips that will help you in the decision-making process:

• Strategic location & proximity to the local markets - The location of the warehouse should be such that you have easy access to airport or seaport for importing or exporting cargo through either air freight or ocean freight services. This holds true if air or sea are your frequent modes of transport for shipping or receiving goods at the warehouse. On the other hand, if you are shipping goods by road, it is important to ensure that the warehouse space you choose has a good connectivity to the highways. The proximity of the warehouse space to local markets and suppliers is a huge criterion that cannot be overlooked. You should be where your customers are. If the warehouse space is closer to your major suppliers and customers, the transportation costs and lead times will significantly reduce and you would be able to offer enhanced responsiveness to the stakeholders in the supply chain. Moreover, if your suppliers or customers are willing to visit the warehouse space, they would be able to locate the space without much of a difficulty.
• Pricing - The pricing of the warehouse space is one of the crucial criteria in selecting a warehouse space for rent. The pricing typically depends on square feet per month or square feet per year. You should always check for hidden costs, if any. Sometimes the pricing seems cheaper but there are hidden costs that come into the picture once the space is already taken.
• Workforce availability, skills & costs - Availability of skilled workforce and their costs largely depend on the demographics of the warehouse space. It is quite difficult to get skilled workforce at the right price for every pre-engineered warehouse space. It is therefore critical to do your research well before freezing the space for rent.
• Storage options - The warehouse space must offer different types of storage options suited to your business needs. Commonly, all warehouse spaces have the following options to offer - pallet racking, multi-tier racking, static shelving, mobile shelving, mezzanine flooring, and wire partitions.
• Utility costs - It is highly recommended that you check on the utility costs and availability as well in case your products require refrigeration or any other utilities for storage purposes.

Conclusion: A well-informed and well-researched decision will leave a lasting impact on the competitiveness of your company. Hence, the above tips would surely aid in making the right choice while finalizing the warehouse space for rent.