Manufacturers are turning their eyes to 3PLs in Essex to supply the expanded warehousing and distribution capacity they need in this ‘leaner’ economy

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, retailers are adopting leaner stock keeping practices in greater numbers. These leaner warehousing and distribution strategies focus on keeping small amounts of stock at any one time, and ordering more often in much smaller quantities. These strategies can reduce costs substantially for these retailers, but are utterly dependent on suppliers being able to send stock in small batches, frequently, and with very short lead times.

This is creating a substantial financial burden on suppliers, as they are forced to keep larger amounts of inventory on hand, or to find other ways of meeting these demands. Suppliers of markets in and around London and the south in general seem particularly hard hit by this wrinkle in the market, but many have discovered the solution to their problems in Essex.

 How can warehousing companies in Essex help?

Many suppliers have turned to keeping stock ready for short notice orders to retailers in and around London in Essex. With the help of third party logistics providers, especially warehousing, distribution and fulfilment companies, these retailers are able to make the rapid, small-lot orders that the new ‘lean’ retailers demand.

Buy why Essex?

Essex is in a unique position right now. Existing, unused warehousing capacity abounds, and industrial real estate prices are disproportionately low, so more capacity opens up almost as fast as the old is used. There is even a lot of commercial dock capacity available for raw materials or finished products that have to come in bulk from overseas.

Essex is also very close to the retailers in London. It actually shares a border with Greater London., though this is often overlooked. The retail sector demands shorter and shorter lead times every time we look, and small shipments have become the rule rather than the exception. This means the short journey time and low warehousing costs Essex provides become more vital to profitability by the day.

Lean inventory strategies from retailers won’t go away any time soon, so importers and producers both should look to 3PLs in Essex to handle these new warehousing and distribution burdens efficiently.