#general-chat
Thread
Has anyone switched from 3PL to their own warehouse & fulfilment? Wonder if there are any hidden complications with doing so that we should be aware of?
Based on our calculations, we'd be able to save $$ monthly, improve our CX, have control over fulfilment/packaging AND be able to create a photo/video studio along with a live shopping studio. But wondering if there's anything we are not aware that we should be? Having a good & experience WH Manager will be very important.
This totally makes sense once you reach a certain scale. Typical lifecycle for a brand is self fulfil-> 3PL -> dedicated warehouse
There’s a lot to consider but the biggest thing is adding variable costs for fixed costs. As long as you have the volume to justify it it can make sense.
Some other considerations->
• inventory control. Make sure you have good policies that people actually stick with
• typically will have to use only 1 carrier (due to volume) which means giving up some flexibility and potentially volume discounts
• Really need a good WMS- luckily there are some at all price points you can look at
• Tap into an on demand labor provider like spotwork to give yourself some flexibility
Happy to share more notes if helpful
My apologies I read but my message didn't press send. Very good insights, thanks @Aaron Alpeter & <@U07RCFV24JF>.
We are at about $500-600k/mo atm and growing. In terms of direct-costs, we would end up saving money (on shipping, labor, materials etc). But it wouldn't be substantial savings where it would be worth doing just for that reason.
A big benefit would be to have more control and be able to inbound faster, offer a much better customer experience, branded packaging, faster cash-on-delivery payouts and so forth. Plus, we'd use the WH space to build a in-house creative studio, create a set for our products, do live shopping etc.
We're in S.E Asia so the WH staff salaries & building rental fees would affordable, but we would definitely want to hire a very experience manager to reduce as many headaches as possible.
For now we decided not to pursue it since it's better for us to focus on growth, team-building and product expansion rather than lose focus by pursuing the WH route (which will take away time from the core business).