www.truckandtrack.com Summer 2023 Truck and Track 37 MANAGED WAREHOUSE SOLUTIONS to its pre-Covid pattern. Certainly, the on-line retailers took 33% of new leases in 2020, and 45% in 2021, but last year they were just 11% of what has proved to be a remarkably resilient market (and indeed, Amazon and others are showing some signs of retrenchment), while 3PLs took 43%, followed by retailers/ wholesalers on 19%, and manufacturers on 16%. Furthermore, retailers in particular are releasing space by reducing stocks as part of their response to the cost-of-living crisis: major supermarket chains, for example, are reducing the number of skus they carry by 5% or more: that ripples back up the supply chain and means there are an awful lot of unused pallet spaces becoming available. And as always, there are the many warehouse operators that have scaled for their peaks, and are more than happy to warehouse for other parties during their ’off-season’. The offer isn’t just room on the shed floor. Increasingly, we are able to offer retailers short-term managed storage solutions and warehousing–as–a–service. This is becoming a keen and competitive market with significant benefits for both suppliers and users of space, allowing the former to get best value from their assets through creating an additional revenue stream, and the latter to avoid long term commitment to low-return investment. So, we would urge retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers to consider using these short-term sources of productive warehouse capacity as an integral component of their warehousing strategy. Clearly this is easier for planned peaks such as seasonalities or product launches, but often it is possible to identify the early signs of some of the less-expected events and disruptions and plan accordingly. And even where a peak requirement has blown up quite without warning, the robust strategy will have plans and routines, and the business relationships, that will guide the business swiftly and affordably to an appropriate warehousing solution. Bis Henderson Space has many years’ experience in this market. We can help convert your short-term space requirements from a firefighting emergency to a considered tactical response as part of your wider warehousing/fulfilment strategy. Contact…Rob McWriter, Business Development Director at Bis Henderson Space on rob.mcwriter@bis-henderson.com or 07836 572500 More on Bis Henderson Space at www.bis-hendersonspace.com
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