How to Find the Right Warehouse

In this blog post, I am going to share with you, how to find an Amazon FBA or eCommerce warehouse for your business. 

This is part 3 of a multi-part training series, where we have covered everything we need to think about and consider - some warehouse success principles, as well as some pre-warehouse considerations. This part is going to be about finding that right warehouse for you, then ultimately committing. In this blog post, I am going to share with you some of the things which Kev and Kylie have learnt over the past 6 years, doing two warehouse moves; the first warehouse move was back in 2016, where they found their first 2,000 SQ FT warehouse - I am going to share with you some tips on how Kev and Kylie were actually able to find this and ultimately commit to it. Then, more recently, Kev and Kylie moved from that 2,000 SQ FT warehouse, to the warehouse they are in currently, 10,000 SQ FT warehouse, and they went through and learnt the same sort of processes.

So, this is a fantastic training opportunity if you are interested in a warehouse.

If you haven't seen the last two blog posts on warehouse, then definitely do here:

11 Warehouse Success Principles

Reseller Warehouse

Or watch the YouTube Videos here: 

How to Find the Reseller Warehouse Tip 1

The first thing Kev would recommend is when you are actually looking for a warehouse, the first thing Kev would do is post onto social media, asking for warehouse recommendations. Let them know that your business is expanding, you are looking for an industrial warehouse unit around your particular town or wherever you want to find it, and ask if any of your friends know of any warehouses, which are due for their lease. This is just going to get the ball rolling to start with. Depending on what friends you have on Facebook, you may have some friends who are working in different businesses, in different industrial states, different industrial units and different business parks - they may already be aware of a warehouse which is close by.

How to Find the Reseller Warehouse Tip 2

This second tip is something how Kev and Kylie found their first warehouse back in 2016, and this is by getting in your cars and drive around different industrial estates, drive around the different locations around your town. 

Around where you live, you will most likely know the different industrial estates which you have got, and inside those industrial estates, there are going to be various amounts of different warehouses - whether small warehouses from 500 SQ FT to maybe 2000 SQ FT, and you will know based on the location you are looking for, and based around your town, village or city. You will know where the best location for warehouses would be. 

You could get into your car and drive there. You can check out the industrial parks and have a look around. Some warehouses could be empty without a sign showing, or they may already have businesses inside them, but they are planning on moving out by the end of the month. You don't know until you go talking and exploring the areas.

How to Find the Reseller Warehouse Tip 3

Look online and go through listings. There are many estate agents, where they are going to have commercial and residential. You can go online and do some searching. Get an idea of what warehouses are on the market.

 If you go onto Google and you type in warehouses to rent (your location), the first thing you will notice, is that lots of results will pop up for regular commercial search engines. 

Once you have found a website which looks appealing to you, what you can do is filter, so that you can search for specifically what you are searching for. Cost, size, area etc. 

This is also a fun thing to do, because it is going to show you what is possible. 

You may find yourself running into a problem, where the size you are looking for isn't on the site. So, this is when you will have to find another website, and try searching on there.

Depending on the size which you are considering, you are going to run into different potential business rates which you may have involved. So, if you go into a certain size, then and you up to a different size, you are going to have what they call, "business rates relief", or, "small business rates relief", where you can get your business rates to zero, but if you go above a certain size, you may want to check that at the time you are reading this, just so that you capture all the costs you have involved.

You may also want to think about the time of travel, which you are going to be adding onto every day. 

Once you find a warehouse you are interested in, you may want to pick up the phone and call them, or you may want to email them, so that you are able to schedule a viewing.

Lease Insights 

The lease has the heads of terms and different sections. For example, the property. The property will show the address for the lease itself, what type of property it is etc. Then, it shows the details of the landlord and it shares the details of the tenant. And lastly, it may share the bond and the deposit as well - so the rent, the service charge and the insurance. Then, you have got a permitted use. You will also have different classes, so b1, b2 and b8 - it is all about what you are using your business for. You want to make sure it is like storage and distribution, and you need to get legal advice. 

You will also have the lease term, and the break clause - what will allow you to get out of the lease, the commencement date, the rent, what the business rates are, the rent review date, and any alterations which you may make. There also may be some ground rent, and different clauses. There may be different clauses which a warehouse landlord may present to you, and you will have to think about and look at those clauses and get the correct legal advice to ensure you are happy with those clauses. Then, it comes down to the negotiations, what can you do? What can you do to negotiate to make it a win-win situation. And Kev's best advice in this, would be to learn a little more about the property, learn a little more about the history of the property, and sell yourself and the vision of what you are wanting to do. 

Once you do this, you will be able to discuss some negotiation, whether that is rent or discounts etc, whatever it may be, don't ever not ask the question, because if you don't ask, you don't get.

Other information which may be on the leases are VAT, managing assets, rent collection, legal costs, financial references, and the solicitors. So there is a lot to think about.   

Further reading:

The Ultimate Online Arbitrage Shipping Amazon FBA Guide

The Ultimate Online Arbitrage Purchasing Amazon FBA Guide

Online Arbitrage Business Overview Best Tips