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ENWhat is On-Demand Storage?
You were a small company and the small space of your workshop was enough for storage, or your newly established e-commerce site was receiving 5-10 orders a day and one room of your house was enough to prepare the orders (storage, packaging, etc.). Over time, as the orders increased, the small space of your workshop or the room of your house was not enough (you even started working with several suppliers).
You are looking for short-term storage space (warehouse) of 250-500 m2 to fulfill incoming special orders. For this, you can follow traditional methods and use the services of a logistics company (3PL, Third Party Logistics) and use its warehouse, or you can rent or buy the storage space you need, or you can build it.
Working with 3PL
If you choose to work with a 3PL, the preparation time for this can take weeks.
First you need to research. To do this, you type “warehousing” in the search engines or ask a few people “do you know of any warehousing companies?”. Then you search for them and visit a few.
The 3PL companies you meet with will ask questions to find out how much space you will need, how long your products will be stored, any special requirements for storing your products, software usage requirements, and things like a stocking projection and daily shipment forecast for six months, nine months or a year, for example if you plan to stay for more than 2-3 months (which can be difficult to answer as you have no previous experience or data).
If you are lucky, 2-3 but most likely a 3PL company will send you their offer (some of it may be difficult to understand as you have no previous experience or data) and you will approve it.
But you still don’t have the peace of mind that “was it the right decision?” Because you have not had a chance to compare and negotiate several offers.
Between you and me, 3PL companies prefer contracts for at least one year and if you need storage space for a short period of time, 3PL companies will not be very keen on this, so you will either not get any offers or the offer may be too expensive.
Your Own Warehouse
You may prefer to have your own warehouse instead of a 3PL. For this purpose, you can rent a warehouse or you can buy or build a warehouse with the idea of “I will use it for a long time, it will be an investment”.
This choice may seem attractive at first because you are in control, but the costs (investment such as racks, machinery, software, rent or construction, repair, maintenance, operation, personnel), legal requirements, long construction time and even uncertainty about what will happen in the future can be a challenge. Also, if you need to change this area, you may experience the same problems and difficulties as in the beginning.
Or On Demand Storage
Instead of the traditional “storage” solutions above, you can opt for “on demand” storage.
The simplest description of on-demand storage might be “Airbnb” style storage. Airbnb is a technology application that matches those who want to stay in a city for a short period of time with those who want to rent part or all of their home for a short period of time.
On Demand storage is the ability to access and use storage areas and storage services at the required location, at the required time, for the required period (date range), in the required size and with the required characteristics, with the principle of “pay as you use” without entering into long-term commitments. In other words, on demand warehousing ensures that the most suitable storage space is available for the goods at any place at any time and that payment is made for this storage space as much as the time and space (size) used without the need for long-term contracts.
Flexibility
On demand storage also provides flexibility. The ability to change and adapt to change in a short time with little cost and effort is called flexibility. People or organizations that need anything at any time for a certain period of time in any place can use it for a short period of time by simply renting it without buying or investing in it, and gain the benefit of flexibility.
Those who need storage in any location, at any time, in any size, can find storage space in the location, time, duration (date range), size and features they want with on demand storage, without the need for long-term contracts, and pay for it on an as-used (duration and size) basis. For this flexibility, there must be as much storage as needed in the place where it is needed. Otherwise, “flexibility” can be difficult or even impossible.
Those who need short-term storage space for their products can use idle or unusable empty spaces in third-party storage areas for a short period of time without a long-term contract thanks to on demand storage. These third-party storage areas can be storage areas belonging to logistics companies or Gray Storage areas.
On Demand Storage with DepOrtak
DepOrtak, an online marketplace application that offers on-demand storage solutions, creates a win-win and sharing economy environment for all parties involved. Thus, both storage space owners can earn additional income and reduce costs by utilizing the smallest free space, and those in need can find short-term storage space for the smallest amount of products.
DepOrtak on demand warehousing solution enables to find the most suitable storage space for their goods at any place at any time and to pay for this storage space for the time and space (size) used without the need for long-term contracts.
On demand warehousing solution offered with the technology infrastructure and algorithms developed by DepOrtak, enables the utilization of empty spaces by matching the spaces that will remain idle or unusable for a certain period of time in the warehouses and Gray Storage areas of logistics companies and those who need storage space for their products (goods); finding storage space at the required time, duration, location, size and features and making the supply chain flexible.
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