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Suddenly, warehousing and fulfillment has become popular. Yes – packing and shipping is now “sexy”. Why, you might ask? Over the last few years, e-commerce sales have grown at an exponential rate, and where growth is, so too will be interest and opportunity. But the growth in e-commerce fulfillment hasn’t been the only fuel to fire the flame of interest in this otherwise dull industry. Fulfillment and warehousing have been amplified to a new height within the news and media due a new way of doing business within the industry – on-demand warehousing and fulfillment.
On-demand warehousing has captured the hearts of venture capitalists and big businesses alike. Over the last few years, significant money has been raised to start-up and grow multiple new on-demand warehousing businesses. Flexe has raised over $20 million in venture funds, Stord has raised $2.4 million, and Flow Space has raised $2.2 million. Venture capitalists aren’t the only ones entering the fray either – UPS just launched its new Ware2Go platform in an attempt to capture some of the forecasted $26 billion market for on-demand warehousing and fulfillment services.
The rise of the shared economy means we can get practically anything on-demand: housing, cars, bikes, musical instruments and even kitchenware. Therefore it should come as no surprise that on-demand warehousing is now a thing, too.
On-demand warehousing lets customers who don’t have inventory storage capacity to rent warehouse space and fulfillment/logistics services on a pay-per-use basis—instead of entering into long-term contracts with third-party logistics providers (3PLs). Airbnb-style warehouse brokers, such as Flexe and Stord and Ware2Go, match businesses having excess storage space with small to medium-sized e-commerce companies seeking flexibility in their warehouse arrangements.
On-demand warehousing advocates claim it’s the perfect solution to scalability problems e-commerce retailers face. It lets them expand storage as a variable cost, as opposed to a long-term fixed cost.
So on-demand must be the next big thing in logistics that every online retailer should choose, right? The reality is that such warehousing comes with serious disadvantages and risks that can cause more headaches than it resolves. E-commerce companies should think long and hard before signing up for temporary warehousing.
On-demand warehousing is quite simply an online marketplace of warehousing services where users of warehouse space can tap into the network and use warehouse space on an “as needed” basis, and providers of warehouse space can offer excess warehouse space to other companies as it is available. Popularized by the consumer facing Air BNB and Uber, on-demand warehousing, in theory, connects ANYONE with additional warehouse space, regardless of background in commercial warehousing or traditional 3PL warehousing. In essence, anyone can offer their excess warehouse space as it becomes available, to be used by those in need for short or long-term projects. On demand warehousing attempts to disrupt the commonly used channels of either acquiring leased space as needed or using a 3rdparty warehouse by creating an Uberized platform to “exchange” these services in real-time.
Companies such as Flexe, Stord, Flow Space and Ware2Go have each built an online platform where warehouses can list their space and those in need of services can acquire space. These online platforms are built in such a way that the entire transaction is run through the platform, from listing and acquiring warehouse space, to the management of inventory and shipping of orders, as well as the final billing of the customer for services rendered and payment of the warehouse operator. In exchange for providing this platform, these on-demand companies earn a commission for serving as a medium for the exchange.
As you might have guessed, on-demand warehousing companies aren’t only geared towards the exchange of seasonal or additional warehouse space. Rather, they’ve even ventured into the realm of attempting to exchange more complicated “fulfillment services,” so that companies with extra space can earn money by not only storing pallets in their warehouse but also picking, packing and shipping orders for those in need.
Initially, on-demand warehousing was started in order to solve the ever-growing warehouse space dilemma. Businesses that need additional warehouse space, whether on a short-term basis or in another location, have traditionally had to search for a warehouse space to lease or use a 3PL warehouse, as there haven’t been any avenues for this need in the past, especially for non-3PLs.
Some of the most common reasons that companies need additional warehouse space are:
According to Stord (with an admittingly small sample size), only 80 percent of warehouses are utilized fully, meaning there is 20% capacity at any given time within industrial warehouse space. On the opposite side of the coin, nationwide, the industrial vacancy rate is 5.3 percent, and industrial rents were up 8.2 percent in 2017, after increasing 8.7 percent in 2016, according to the JOC.com. These unique circumstances have created an environment that both presents an opportunity to fully utilize excess warehouse space as it becomes available and also circumvent some of the challenges of finding and acquiring additional warehouse space that is needed. In the past, the only solutions were to sign a short-term lease, shift to another DC if relevant, sell off inventory, hire a 3PL to take care of it, sign a long-term lease, or search for and solidify some sort of alternative off-site storage solution.
On the surface, it seems like there could be some use for on-demand warehousing, and that it could offer some pros over third party logistics.
These on-demand solutions claim to be the answer to not only warehouse space needs but also fulfillment. On-demand companies have upgraded from tracking inbound and outbound pallet shipments, to facilitating the exchange of carton and single unit order fulfillment. Using the provided system, users of on-demand fulfillment can have another business in another location ship orders for them. The primary goal of on-demand fulfillment is to fulfill shipping needs in additional locations and to enable smaller and growing retailers to compete in the “same-day” or expedited shipping environment without opening up additional in-house locations.
Sounds like an interesting proposition, right? But can ANYONE fulfill orders for another business? Is on-demand warehousing and fulfillment actually beneficial from a cost perspective? We answer these and other questions below.
Companies like Uber and Air BNB work well because anyone with a license can drive a car and anyone with a home can rent out space. But is the same true for warehousing? Certainly, it’s easier to be convinced that a business with additional warehouse space can without tremendous headache accept bulk pallets, store them, and occasionally send them back out from time to time. As long as the systems are streamlined and the business has some idle labor, storing and shipping pallets is “doable.” But what about complicated pick, pack, and fulfillment operations? Can any business add this to their list of capabilities? On-demand companies want you to think that as long as you have experience shipping orders, you have the ability to handle fulfillment for other companies.
The reality, however, is that there are a few large obstacles to making on-demand fulfillment work. First, the company offering on-demand fulfillment services must have significant idle capacity on the labor side in order for fulfillment and shipping to be more than an “afterthought”. One can easily pull a pallet and leave it at the dock for pick up, but it’s far more challenging to pick, prepare, and ship 100 orders in the afternoon on a busy day.
Second, non-3PL warehouses will always battle the “priority” problem. A 3PL warehouse has to serve all of its customers or risk losing any one of them. But a company that has a primary business will almost always put the needs of their business first, above any need of a fulfillment customer that they’re simply earning some incremental revenue from.
By the way, most professional fulfillment companies with years of experience make mistakes – even with the latest and greatest in technologies and staff that are geared towards that singular focus. Companies that don’t focus on being a fulfillment operate will, without a doubt, make more mistakes even still than warehousing firms.
Which is why 3PL warehouses are likely going to be the primary warehouses used by on-demand solutions, since they’re already geared towards providing this service and detail. But is it better to use an on-demand fulfillment service (only to use a 3PL that they’ve matched you up with), or are you better off just going straight to a 3PL? We’ll touch on these questions below.
The concept behind cost savings in on-demand warehousing is that they will leverage their overall volume of deals to get better individual rates. But this doesn’t really work. Here’s why:
First and foremost, the warehousing and fulfillment industry is a very low margin, high volume business. You have to understand that there isn’t a huge amount of “play” in rate structures. If rates are decreased significantly without a corresponding synergy due to volume, performance and quality will diminish as a result. There’s only so much room to squeeze out of fulfillment pricing.
Therefore, an Air BNB warehouse must either force the warehouse to operate at a lower than acceptable margin and mark up this cost (in order to remain competitive with stand-alone fulfillment solutions), or they must accept a much smaller margin and simply mark up the costs to customers slightly, or they must be marking up costs over and beyond the pricing of a traditional 3PL in order to make appropriate margins. Because most of these companies are venture backed, you can be certain that their business model isn’t to make a small margin of profit. Because of this, it’s reasonable to assume that they are either forcing businesses to offer service at a lower rate or they’re marking up costs above fulfillment companies in order to make their desired margin.
This is a recipe for disaster. If on-demand providers are forcing businesses to operate at a lower than desired margin, performance will dip. There is just no way to complete the same amount of work at a lower margin. The warehouse may decide to make this additional money while they have some capacity but once they have a source of revenue that provides a better profit margin, they will ditch it in a heartbeat. And if they’re simply marking up costs above those of a 3rdparty warehouse, then eventually the market will bear that imbalance and companies will switch as they realize that they can get better rates elsewhere.
It’s extremely difficult to add an unnecessary third party to a transaction, add the additional fees necessary to pay this third party, and not have a resulting increase in costs – especially in the case of a very low margin business.
But to further illustrate the pricing dilemma, we found the following related to on-demand warehousing and fulfillment rates:
Pricing will be higher for your business using an on-demand solution – guaranteed.
And this is where it gets interesting – the claim of on-demand warehousing and fulfillment is that not only will you save money versus using a traditional 3PL warehouse (which we rebutted above), but you’ll also get better performance than managing a 3PL fulfillment company relationship yourself. From Flow Space itself:
A few thoughts on the above graphic. First, due to changes in the industry and pressures from customers, many 3PLs have adopted month-to-month or ‘no-commitment’ contracts. Similarly, many warehousing firms have opted to charge no or very little minimums. These claims are simply inaccurate for many fulfillment options.
Second, the claim that 3PL warehouse software is more difficult than on-demand software is simply an advertising ploy. Unlike on-demand warehousing which has been around a few years, 3PL warehouse software has been around for decades. In this time, the software providers have adapted, evolved, and done everything they can to make their systems more user-friendly. In fact, many 3PLs themselves have built their own 3PL software to make things even better for their specific needs and the needs of their customers.
Third, the claim that 3PLs are poorly organized is highly subjective and not backed by data. Fulfillment companies oftentimes have dedicated account management staff, so you’d be hard pressed to find a better solution for customer service. In fact, getting someone on the phone to be able to answer questions is oftentimes more desirable than email communications.
Which leaves us with hard to scale integrations among multiple fulfillment centers and confusing pricing. If a company uses multiple fulfillment centers that aren’t the same company, then perhaps the on-demand solution is less cumbersome. One of the main objections people have with fulfillment houses is that they have pricing that is difficult to understand. However, this isn’t necessarily lost in on-demand solutions, who charge in a very similar fashion to most 3PLs.
Let’s focus on another big area of emphasis within the on-demand world – fast delivery – You keep hearing about how everyone wants their product in 2 days or less (popularized by Amazon Prime services). But is this statement really true? Yes, Amazon has helped push the limits on same day or 1-2 day expedited delivery, but how many orders are really shipped within hours or next day? We can tell you through our site that the number of people that request multiple locations due to the need for same day or expedited delivery options is less than 5%, indicating a small desire for this service – at least today.
Actually, many recent studies have shown that low shipping costs fully trumps speed – 87% of shoppers like free shipping over fast shipping. In another study, 74% of shoppers said cost is more important than timing. According to a recent Shippo survey, 3% of those polled want same day shipping, 44% want 4-7 days and 53% want 2-3 days.
The Amazon effect (because so many people use Amazon Prime) has created a bit of an expectation, but it’s not translating into absolute expectation. This is not to say that shipping speed isn’t important, but it’s just to say that warp speed shipping isn’t an absolute necessity yet, especially for smaller and mid-sized retailers. Therefore, the argument to use on-demand fulfillment services to exploit expedited shipping advantages seems like more of an emotional ploy than a fact at this point.
Another unstated reality is that most on-demand companies are geared towards mid-tier and larger companies. It’s been reported that only one of the new on-demand companies listed above really focuses on smaller and growing companies. But the interesting part is that this company, Stord, apparently focuses on small as being 50 to 100 pallets of storage, or hundreds if not thousands of orders processed per month. Many small business clients have storage needs that are far less than 50 to 100 pallets, and may only ship a few hundred orders per month or less.
Are on-demand warehouses really helping small companies? Because margins are lower for low margin scenarios, the resounding answer is NO!
Let’s tackle seasonality of needs. One big timeframe where service is needed is during the holiday rush, which is quite common for retailers and 3PLs. In other words, at least logically, the on-demand warehouses will have to match users during the holiday season with warehouses (non-retailers and non-3PLs) that don’t see peak activity in the holiday season, or else they too will be subject to limited supply and limited availability to help process orders.
Do you want a company that does something else completely to perform shipping services during a time when they’re already busy and your business is secondary to theirs? Otherwise, we’re really talking about just having 3PLs help out, which is already in existence and without the needless markup previously mentioned. So apparently there must be a big pool of non-retailer/non-3PL based warehouses that are willing to help you during your rush, have a slower season during the holidays and are itching to earn some extra dough at the end of the year and give you a priority status in their business. Something isn’t quite adding up…
The on-demand warehouses claim that their systems are extremely easy to learn and implement – and we will take them at face value that this is true. However, it’s important to note that this is essentially creating a new business for the warehouse using their software. For a non-3PL, this is a separate inventory/fulfillment/shipping system than the one they use, and there will be different packaging and labeling requirements, etc. Essentially the company is managing two businesses with two separate software systems.
For 3PLs, they will be utilizing another system that is separate from their core. They are probably best positioned to learn the new system and implement it, but it’s still secondary to their core processes, and their core customers that they don’t “share” with anyone else and that they presumably earn more profit from. You need to know that there’s a chance that the company will be faced with a last-minute crunch during a busy time and may be left with processing either your on-demand order where they earn less and use someone else’s processes and procedures or they will choose to help their existing customer where they earn more money and have to actively manage the client. Which path do you think they’ll take?
The actual on-demand warehouse seems to be the one performing customers service. If you have a question you’ll contact them as opposed to the warehouse that has your goods and is shipping your orders. For some customer service this is understandable and workable, as much of the data is tracked in the inventory and shipping management system provided by the on-demand solution. However, there are many instances when answers won’t be easily obtained by looking at the system (such as changing an order, diagnosing an error, checking in on a return or receipt that hasn’t been entered, etc.).
In these cases, you will have to contact the Air BNB warehouse company, who will in turn contact the warehouse. Once an answer is obtained, you’ll be provided a response. This adds an additional layer of communication into the fold, and will definitely lower the overall response time. As opposed to simply calling a 3PL warehouse directly, you’ll be waiting longer to get a response. In the case of a very critical order or shipment, this increased time could spell disaster.
Furthermore, another challenge is that the warehouse may start receiving customer service requests directly from the customer. As an example, once the user of the on-demand service finds out that it’s ABC Fulfillment Service shipping their orders, they may be inclined to contact ABC first for questions – and it won’t take long for them to figure out who is shipping their goods. This will add another layer of service for the warehouse processing the work, and if they’re already operating at a lower margin, it may serve as another challenge to continued participation in the network.
On the surface, warehousing appears to be a straightforward concept. A provider with adequate space accepts bulk pallets, retains them for a period, then ships them out. Simple, right? Any company with experience in shipping orders can do this. But this isn’t necessarily so—particularly when it comes to fulfillment services.
A fulfillment service packages, prepares, and ships merchandise to customers. Often outsourced, it facilitates inventory management for e-commerce companies, enabling the latter to focus on other aspects of their businesses.
But order fulfillment can be complicated, even for highly experienced 3PL warehouses running sophisticated computer systems. It’s all too easy to send the wrong product or an incorrect number of items. Items can also become damaged during shipping, or a customer may decide to return an item.
An ad hoc warehouse unlikely to be experienced in handling such matters, especially on a large scale. The more merchandise such a service provider ships out, the more you may find yourself confronted with shipping mistakes and disgruntled customers.
On-demand warehousing and fulfillment services cater to multiple tenants, and their core business interest differs from yours. When a time shortage or conflict occurs, their needs come first. As a result, your business orders and shipments aren’t likely to receive anything resembling priority attention.
Also consider that your payments are only supplemental income for the on-demand group. Contrast this with a traditional 3PL who focuses equally on every customer; your business is their primary revenue source. So is your satisfaction, lest they lose your business.
For example, during a single day both your business and the on-demand entity unexpectedly experience a surge of orders that have to be shipped immediately. They’re quite unlikely to have the available labor required to fulfill both orders in a careful, timely manner. Whose shipments get handled first? (Hint: Not yours.)
On-demand warehousers claim that you’ll save money because, by spreading their fixed costs across many customers, they can offer lower rates to each. But in reality warehousing and fulfillment is a low margin, high volume industry, so realistically there isn’t a much wiggle room for rate reduction.
Most on-demand entities are backed by venture capitalists looking to recoup their investments, so it’s unlikely that on-demand warehouses are offering services at a lower rate.
To remain competitive, the warehouse brokers must be compelling on-demand warehouses to either operate on meager percentages or to mark up from traditional 3PL pricing to match industry-standard margins. Our research [https://www.fulfillmentcompanies.net/on-demand-warehousing-and-fulfillment-dont-believe-the-hype/]shows you’re likely to pay $4 – $9 more per pallet for in and out handling using an on-demand warehouse.
And should an on-demand warehouse beoperating with an artificially low margin, then expect compromised quality and performance—they go hand in hand. Either way, e-commerce firms are at risk of losing money: Either you’ll pay more for warehouse/fulfillment services outright or you’ll alienate and lose customers through subpar performance.
Warehousing on-demand is challenging for many scenarios, but it isn’t the wrong choice for everyone. In fact, in one area is could truly excel – connecting very simple pallet in/pallet out needs with warehouses that have excess capacity to handle the workload. Especially in cases where the pallet minimums are reached (e.g. over 50 to 100 pallet minimums) and in cases where the pallets are exact dimensions and not product that is subject to any warehouse condition requirements (e.g. non-food items that aren’t subject to temperature controls), on-demand warehousing could work out. Also, on-demand warehousing could be helpful in cases where you just simply can’t find an option in an area. These may be few and far between, but the on-demand service might have an option in an area that you can’t find on your own.
But in many other cases, on-demand warehousing and fulfillment appears to be extremely problematic. From a service and pricing perspective, following a more traditional 3PL warehouse route will be far more advantageous. Don’t be fooled by the fancy headlines and sales pitches – on-demand warehousing may seem like a great solution at first glance but it could end up costing your company severely in the end.
On-demand warehousing can sometimes work out. It functions best when a e-retailer has a temporary capacity shortage or merchandise overflow due to seasonal demand—a short-lived problem.
But for the long term, on-demand warehousing offers too simplified a solution for a complex supply chain issue. If your customers have a negative experience related to product shipping, they’ll be blaming your company—not the warehouse.
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