Why You Should Hire a Centrally Located Third-Party Logistics Company?

The adage "location, location, location" rings especially true for business owners who toil in the traditional retail sector. You might think you don't need a storefront if you're an online retailer. However, order fulfillment planning is important for every company that delivers things to customers' doors.

Where a fulfillment center is located can have a significant impact on important aspects of your business such as delivery costs, delivery times, and ultimately customer satisfaction among other metrics.

If your company has reached a point where it can no longer fulfill orders internally and you have no desire to manage its own warehouse operations, you may want to consider contracting with a centrally third-party logistics (3PL) company.

There is a wide variety of 3PLs from which to select, some of which have fulfillment centers located only in certain regions and others of which have centers dispersed evenly all across the country.

There was a time when completing orders from warehouses in rural locations was a viable option; clients did not always expect their online purchases to arrive within two days, and real estate was less expensive.

However, deploying fulfillment centers situated in more densely populated locations is a crucial factor to think about in light of the continuous population development in major cities and consumers' desires for quick satisfaction.

Here are three of the most compelling arguments for moving order fulfillment to a central location in a big city. • It's more likely that sales will be made in areas with larger populations. • Locating a distribution hub in a sizable and heavily populated urban location puts your goods within easy reach of a larger customer base. • Being conveniently situated near potential clients might boost sales.

While it is true that warehouse space is more expensive in large cities, having your goods so near to the majority of the buyers will prove to be a worthwhile investment. Even if your company only does business online, it still benefits from being located close to its target market.

A Centrally Located 3PL Company Saves on Transportation Costs

In order to achieve optimal efficiency, you need to take into account more than one city-based distribution hub.

While having a distribution hub in a big city is fantastic for local consumers, it means that those on the other side of the nation will either have to wait longer for their orders or pay more to have them shipped.

Hiring a centrally located 3PL provider has the advantage of being able to dispatch your goods to a good number of important cities. That’s how Amazon manages to provide two-day and even same-day shipping options.

Distributing stock throughout various warehouses from a central location has many benefits, including cheaper shipping rates and quicker transit times. Shipping companies base their pricing on defined geographical regions or "shipping zones."

In the United States, there are eight different zones, and a package's final destination determines which zone it is sent to.

Distance from the starting location determines the final destination's zone number, with Zone 8 being the farthest distance. For this reason, the larger the distance a shipment must travel across time zones, the higher the associated cost. That’s why it’s cheaper to ship from a central location.

Each distribution center's location will affect several aspects of your logistics operations, including: • Location in geographically relevant regions within the country so that shipping zone estimates won't go too high • Proximity to a big portion of your client base so that you may offer same-day or two-day delivery to the largest number of people • Convenient access to key transportation facilities such as airports and shipping ports for consumers who aren't local to your fulfillment centers. Rapid Shipping Times

Faster shipping times to customers in a major city is a key perk of employing a fulfillment center in a central location.

Sales will increase if there is a shorter distance between the location where orders are processed and where they are sent.

Once your stock is only a few miles distant, rather than hundreds of miles away, you'll be able to provide same-day or 1 to 2-day delivery to your customers. Fast shipping times can increase sales and decrease the likelihood that customers would abandon their carts.

Conclusion

Even if your company's staff is located in a single area, they may still reach customers all over the world by selling their wares online. However, this restriction doesn't apply to the placement of fulfillment centers. To maximize sales and minimize shipping costs, consider hiring a centrally located 3rd party logistics provider.

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