Dedicated Warehousing vs Shared Warehousing – What is the difference? 

When you are in search of warehousing – for your business needs, you will come across a few different kinds of warehousing. The usual question is which one is better? If you are starting your business, you will have a dilemma: dedicated warehousing vs shared warehousing. If you are moving or need a short-term solution, most international relocation companies can help you rent a storage space.

What is the difference – dedicated warehousing vs shared warehousing

Dedicated warehousing is also called contract warehousing. In this case, a single company uses one warehouse If you own a business and are moving boxes overseas and you are looking for a storage solution for your business, you have an option to run a dedicated warehouse by yourself or have some logistics company do it for you.

On the other hand, if you are moving business, let say moving from USA to Germany, you should look for something more suited for your needs.

Multiple companies use a shared warehouse

If you are using a shared warehouse, your company will share space and equipment with other companies. This is a better solution for companies that have smaller requirements. For businesses that have a lot of fluctuation or they simply aren’t ready to rent alone, this is the best option. You will share the cost with other companies – through the rent usually. You are paying for space, equipment, and labor. However, logistic process costs that might vary depending on your business can be aligned with their revenue.

Costs of dedicated warehousing

When you hire an outside company to manage a dedicated warehouse, like international moving services, they also do shipping and logistics services inside a warehouse, like packing and unpacking. The point is that only one company uses a dedicated warehouse. If you already own a warehouse and you want to rent it to one company, they will have their own labor, equipment, operations and the most important thing is that all costs regarding running management and operations are at the expense of the company that is renting the warehouse.

Other types of warehouses

There are a few other types of warehousing like

• Public warehouse – suitable for small businesses that do not have their own warehouse. It is a good temporary solution.
• Private warehouses – under control of larger companies, for their own goods.
• Smart warehouses use modern technology. They need minimum personnel since a computer runs everything.
• Climate-controlled warehouses are good for sensitive goods. They have regulated humidity, temperature and they are the safest if you need to store perishable items or valuable artwork, antics, etc.

Choose according to your businesses’ needs

When you have dedicated warehousing vs shared warehousing you need to choose based on your own business’s needs. Consider the type of your products and the distribution.