Ecommerce warehousing is a definite stream dealing with warehousing and storage options. Ecommerce generally deals with the business of goods that are marketed and sold online to prospective customers and clients. Ecommerce warehousing deals with the storage of those physical goods and materials that are to be sold online.
Ecommerce warehousing not only involves the safety and security of the stored materials during their period of storage within the warehouses but also deals with keeping track of the inventory, the period of arrival of the products, the time for which they have been stocked in warehouses and finally the shipping of the products at the requisite destinations. Ecommerce warehousing gives an idea of the quantity of inventory in real-time.
Influence of Racking and Shelving :
Racking and Shelving have been one equipment sector of warehousing operations that has always been one of the most important components of the same but has always remained on the sidelines during the technological revolution. But the forces of eCommerce, as well as Omni-channel distribution, have modified the racking and shelving sector of warehousing services. Since catering to the rapid order fulfillment of the customers and the on-time delivery, often preceding expected delivery time and thus exceeding expectations on customers’ part, is a mainstay on which the eCommerce industry is thriving; inventory control and storage is of utmost importance.
The industrial sector concerned with warehousing is seeing a lot more manufacturers and retailers updating their warehouse storage aid systems like Racks and Shelves and incorporating new technologies, automation and pick modules that support rapid-order fulfillment. Consumers have grown accustomed to receiving orders in two or three days, due to the rise of eCommerce and that’s pushing companies to change their order fulfillment processes.
As part of that work culture change, companies are looking carefully at the rack and shelving that supports those operations. The selective static storage racks that have a place in most modern-day warehouses and storage facilities are giving way to more multi-level picking operations that can accommodate faster picking and picking of multi-item orders; versus just palletized goods in case of traditional storage aid systems.
Instead of just sending very narrow aisle racking systems out to fill boxes or fulfill orders, companies are growing conscious about using picking modules that send items down to sortation equipment that’s automating and streamlining the entire operation, thus making the work at hand seamless and smooth.
Business is brisk at those manufacturing companies which are being called upon to come up with racking and shelving designs that support today’s e-commerce-enabled warehouses. Ecommerce has really augmented a lot of the business for rack manufacturers over the last couple of years, according to the specialists of this sector. The shift from storing and shipping full pallet loads to stores to picking and packing individual orders for fast shipping has made companies rethink their storage configurations.
With short delivery time periods as a driving force, companies are building dedicated E-commerce facilities, retrofitting existing facilities, and replacing standard pallet racks that would hold a standard number of products with racking that’s better suited for holding individual items that can be handpicked and then sent down to the packing area.
To meet these needs, companies which specialize in providing Racking and Shelving services are producing more pick modules that allow:
- dense storage of products,
- reduced materials handling,
- and the ability to fill multiple SKU customer shipments in a timely manner
- when designed as a multi-level rack supported system, the pick-up modules also enhance space utilization— which is yet another mandatory practice in warehousing operations, in an era where floor space comes at a premium.
Thus racking and shelving systems and their continuous innovation and integration into warehousing operations is augmenting the E-commerce industry at large and is fortifying the industrial growth at a much basic to even an advanced level.