One of the key factors in the success of an online store is the efficient management of stocks and the delivery of goods, which is related to the organization of your warehouse. In this article, we will explore why warehouse location is so important to an online store and how it can affect the success of your business.

Importance of warehouse location for logistics

Proximity to customers

The location of the warehouse directly affects the speed of delivery of products to customers. The further the warehouse is from the target group of buyers, the longer it will take for the products to be delivered - especially for international delivery. To ensure fast and reliable delivery, it is crucial that your warehouse is as close as possible to most of your customers. Geographically, Slovenia is an excellent starting point for delivery in the EU, as you can guarantee next-day delivery to several countries (Croatia, Italy, Austria, Hungary), and delivery to many countries within 2-3 days (Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia...).

As long as you operate more locally, a good location and proximity to customers will allow you to offer customers the option of immediate personal collection at the warehouse, which is especially useful for traders who deal with the sale of urgent products that the customer wants to receive immediately (e.g. hygiene products, cosmetics, gifts, technical products, etc.). In Slovenia, the possibility of personal collection is recommended, especially in Ljubljana and Maribor.

Despite the popularity of online shopping in Slovenia, there is still a large percentage of people who want to pick up the product in person after ordering online, which is particularly well exploited by larger online retailers with pick-up points in Ljubljana. Those merchants who come from outside Ljubljana often decide to cooperate with a fulfillment center, such as, for example, Warehouse.si in Ljubljana, which customers from other parts of Slovenia are most enthusiastic about, who thus get their very own pick-up point in Ljubljana - and the possibility to offer their customers a personal pick-up on the same day.

Access to transport connections

If you are ordering goods for sale from abroad and it is a larger order, good transport connections to the warehouse will be essential for the efficient delivery of your goods. A warehouse located near major transport links such as highways, railways and airports will enable faster and cheaper product delivery. This will not only reduce transportation costs, but also increase customer satisfaction with your service.

At the location itself, you must ensure that you also have a driveway for larger trucks that can stop, park and unload goods without interruption. In any case, there must also be an infrastructure for taking over these goods and unloading them in the warehouse.

Consideration of storage costs

Storage costs are an important factor in determining the location of a warehouse. Warehouses in city centers can be more expensive than those on the outskirts of cities or in smaller towns. Choosing a warehouse location that minimizes storage costs can help you lower your overall operating costs.

A balance between cost and effectiveness

Pri izbiri lokacije skladišča je pomembno najti ravnovesje med stroški in učinkovitostjo. Čeprav so skladišča v bolj oddaljenih predelih lahko cenejša, pa to lahko pomeni tudi manj učinkovito logistiko in daljše čase dostave. Na drugi strani pa so skladišča v bližini kupcev in prometnih povezav lahko dražja, vendar omogočajo hitrejšo in bolj zanesljivo dostavo, saj se vam bodo kurirji lažje prilagodili glede želenega dnevnega termina prevzema paketov. 

Pomembno je, da pretehtate prednosti in slabosti različnih lokacij ter izberete tisto, ki najbolj ustreza potrebam vašega podjetja.

Impact of warehouse location on competitiveness and workforce

Cost reduction

As mentioned earlier, the right warehouse location can help reduce storage and transportation costs. This, in turn, allows you to offer more competitive prices for your products and thereby gain a larger market share.

"Same day delivery"

Fast and reliable delivery is critical to customer satisfaction. Customers are more demanding year by year. If a few years ago it was considered satisfactory for products to be delivered within 1 week, now the expected delivery time is around 1-2 days, and there are more and more requests for same-day delivery as well. In Slovenia, for the time being, same-day delivery is possible in Ljubljana and its surroundings.

Workforce and location

Zelo pomembna stvar, na katero pa marsikateri trgovec pred izbiro lokacije skladišča pozabi – z izbiro skladišča v urbanih skladiščih bo vaša izbira bodočih zaposlenih veliko lažja, saj se bo za delo (redno ali študentsko) prijavilo neprimerljivo večje število ljudi kot če bo vaše skladišče v manjšem kraju. Slovenci nismo znani po tem, da se radi vozimo na delo iz lastnega kraja, sploh če gre za slabše plačana dela. 

Poznamo kar nekaj zgodb trgovcev, ki pri zaposlovanju v manjših krajih opustijo vse kriterije in zaposlijo vsakogar, ki je sploh pripravljen delati – to pa verjetno ni vizija vašega podjetja. Pogosto je za zaposlovanje v manjših krajih posledično potrebno ponuditi višje plače in upoštevati še potne stroške.

Conclusion

The location of the warehouse is one of the key factors in the success of an online store. When choosing a location, it is important to consider the proximity of the majority of your customers, access to transport links, storage costs and the competitiveness of your offer. Only in this way will you be able to ensure efficient logistics, reduce business costs and improve the satisfaction of your customers.

We hope this article helped you understand the importance of warehouse location to the success of your online store. For all questions and advice, you can always contact us through our website, and we will be happy to receive your feedback on the article in the comments, where you can write down any logistics tips you would like to hear in the future.

Damir Vidan
CEO
OnlySales.si