Fulfillment centers and warehouses are commercial buildings which store inventory for businesses that sell products. However, while it’s common for fulfillment centers and warehouses to be used interchangeably, they serve very different purposes.
In this guide, we’ll discuss fulfillment centers vs. warehouses and their key differences to help you better understand each facility’s purpose and which is right for your business.
What Is a Warehouse?
Warehouses are commercial buildings that businesses use to store their products and goods. For example, some companies may rely on warehouses to store seasonal goods or overstock.
If you were to walk into a warehouse, you’d likely see high rows of shelves, stacked products, and the occasional forklift transferring goods from one area to another. In addition, inventory can be removed or added to a warehouse as the need arises. It’s also not uncommon for a warehouse to hold goods from multiple companies.
While fulfillment centers can act as warehouses, they typically include more services.
What Is a Fulfillment Center?
So if businesses use warehouses to store products, what is a fulfillment center? Fulfillment centers are more commonly used by companies to store their products for a short period before shipping items to the end user once an order has been placed.
Fulfillment centers do not serve customers directly. They do not provide customer service or advertise goods. These commercial buildings store, process, pack, and ship orders. Additionally, some fulfillment centers organize transportation on behalf of a business.
Fulfillment Center vs. Warehouse: What’s Best for You?
Understanding the key differences between a fulfillment center vs. warehouse will help you choose what’s best for your company. It all comes down to your business needs.
Are you searching for a commercial building to store bulk items or seasonal goods? If you don’t need the bells and whistles of a fulfillment center, a warehouse will probably meet your company’s needs best.
Or, are you more interested in delegating storage, packing, and shipping tasks? For larger businesses, fulfillment centers make more sense and can often be a cheaper and more effective solution to getting your product in the hands of consumers.
Choose Mesa Moving and Storage for Your Business
As a business owner, your product is your most valuable resource. You’ll need to choose whether you need a commercial building to store goods or a fulfillment center with processing, packing, and shipping best supports your needs.
Fulfillment centers can substantially increase efficiency when it comes to getting your product to your customers once an order is placed. However, smaller businesses or those that want to handle shipments themselves will likely benefit more from simply storing goods in a warehouse.
Mesa Moving and Storage provides quality solutions for storage, packing, and shipping needs that keep your distribution running smoothly. We can store just about anything, and our services can improve your customer’s experience, reduce your company’s shipping costs, and optimize packaging and fulfillment.
If you’re looking for warehouse or fulfillment center services, contact Mesa Moving and Storage today to speak with an expert about our services.
