THE DILEMMA
Stock intake is a straightforward step. There will be warehouse intake costs for this service of course, but it does not have to be shocking. Bringing in stock to your fulfilment centre can be expensive but it should not be. Every warehouse is different but essentially it comes down to getting the right labels on the right boxes, the first time. Re-labelling large volumes of inventory can be time-consuming, and that is the hidden cost.
WHAT IS WAREHOUSE INTAKE?
Warehouse intake or Inbound Stock Processing (ISP) is the process of receiving inventory in large volumes. Generally, directly from your supplier or another warehouse. Intake involves forklifts, manpower and keen management. With the tracking and tracing of goods and people at an all-time high, warehouse management needs to know exactly where each delivery is coming from and where it is going to.
If the intake process has not been followed, upon receipt your goods could end up being quarantined. Resulting in delays to your fulfilment. There could be additional handling fees too. Moving your stock is not as easy as it sounds and repetition is expensive. Same idea as the labelling! The fewer number of times you perform an action the cheaper and faster it will be.
WHERE DO HIDDEN WAREHOUSE COSTS COME FROM?
Every move you make as a business owner has costs associated with it, time money, will to live, whatever. Paying more for less is never a smart move. Understanding your intake process is the key. Following it is essential to cost-effective fulfilment.
On average 70% of fulfilment cost is handling fees. Meaning the most expensive part of your fulfilment is having it moved. Optimise the number of handling times for the substantial impact. Unexpected overcharges can put a heavy strain on any business, avoid potentially hefty excess fees of up to 20% of warehouse intake costs.
EACH 3PL WAREHOUSE IS DIFFERENT – KNOW YOUR PARTICULARS
There are many ways to intake stock but at Selazar we like to think ours is best. Our innovative technology works on QR codes which read faster and hold more information than traditional barcodes.
We automatically generate two labels for you. These labels are simultaneously emailed to you once a stock consignment has been uploaded into our system. One for pallet storage and the other for stock boxes. Simply, ensure the labels are applied to the correct boxes.
That is all you must do to ensure smooth intake with Selazar.
When your orders start to come in is when a smooth intake process pays dividends. With 99.9% pick and pack accuracy to date, we have ensured customer satisfaction through effective final-mile services.
BENEFITS OF DOING IT RIGHT – 24HOUR UP AND RUNNING.
Your stock can roll from the truck directly into pallet storage locations if done right. One simple move. That is all down to the pallet label.
Then your stock boxes can be moved to appropriate shelf storage locations. Instead of taking days or weeks to make your shipment retail-ready Selazar can do it in as little as 24hours! And what’s better is the low warehouse intake costs.
That is very fast considering the volumes we are talking about.
At the end of the day, as an online retailer, you want fast and headache-free intake. When this happens, your stock is ready within hours instead of days allowing you to get selling sooner!
Avoid hidden costs and provide faster service to your customers. It is a win-win.