For many years working as a purchasing agent/buyer in China, I do understand how important China warehouse in supply chain management.
In today's guide, you will learn:
- What services can the China warehouse offer?
- Where can I rent a China warehouse?
- How much for renting the warehouse service?
- How to find the ideal China Warehouse?
If you are shipping and importing goods from China and need China warehouse service, this article is for you.
Without further ado, let’s jump inside.
The service/benefits of renting the China warehouse
In a short word: leasing a China warehouse to process your goods, you will improve your business efficiency.
1, Temporary and long-term storage of cargo
This is the most basic function of renting a China warehouse. You can store your shipment in a safe and temperature-controlled environment.
1.1, Warehouse Shipping
Warehouse shipping is the traditional model of retail fulfillment. You will use a third party warehouse to fulfill your orders. They could distribute your goods directly from the China warehouse to your customers, this saves time because you do not need to import it to your country and then send it to your customer located in some other country.
1.2, When you wholesale from different suppliers in the Chinese wholesale market, due to the different delivery dates, you need to lease China warehouse to store the goods which suppliers already finished.
1.3, In addition, due to some uncontrollable factors, you may not import the goods into your country for the time being, then renting China warehouse and storing the goods there until it is necessary to import them into your country is a good way, or if possible, resell to manufacturers or other buyers and eliminate excess inventory. which can help you in the prevention of unnecessary losses.
1.4, For some special products, like frozen products, flammable and explosive products, then you may need to cooperate with China warehouse which provides tailored warehousing solutions.
2, Cargo Consolidation
Currently, customer demand shows a variety of trends: customers may need multiple products from different regions of China or multiple vendors. For example, most customers who make fashion products basically need to purchase handbags, belts, wallets, accessories... which are produced with different suppliers from different cities in China.
The China Warehouse (also known as the 3PD: The Third-Party Warehouse Provider) provides consolidated cargo solutions to handle mixed goods, which can reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Whether you're dealing with small or bulk shipments, they can provide warehousing consolidation solutions to meet your requirements (like the Consolidation of cargo from several shippers to one MAWB or Bill of Lading). Once the goods are integrated, you can ship them to your destination by air or sea.
3, Cargo packaging
Which include the following service:
Marking and labeling of cargo according to the Client’s instructions
Repacking for your products, with Standard packaging or special packing for valuable cargo
Choosing and sorting of the needed boxes
Cargo handling, packaging condition check-up
Palletizing
Weighting, measuring the dimensions
4, Inventory control
Inventory management is an essential part of company management. Company inventory control must be error-free, and you should strive to find the best balance between too much and too little and never out of stock. Companies offering China warehouses can do this service for you: by checking and updating the stock quantity, details of the product, relevant data and immediately reporting you the newest information.
Today, inventory control is smarter, Some companies can provide online inventory management software, You can manage your goods through this system, and some companies even staffed by robots.
This video you may interested:
Where can I rent China warehouse?
To know where you can rent a China warehouse, you need to know who provides this service, then you can choose related companies which suitable for your business type.
1, Cooperate with A 3PL
3PL (the third-party logistics) is a full-service shipping company that takes care of everything for you. The 3PL takes care of the entire supply chain: from warehousing to shipments and logistics, they take responsibility for the shipment.
2, Cooperate with Freight Forwarding companies
To rent a China warehouse, another option which we will consider is the freight forwarding company. Freight forwarding companies are usually located in cities close to the port, such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Ningbo, etc., which guarantees that cargo is promptly handled and prepared for departure.
In most situations, a freight forwarder is just a middle man between the shipper and the carriers, they can help you deal with like cargo storage, consolidation. Please notice that some Freight forwarder companies also play the role of 3PL and provide the same service of 3PL.
3, Cooperate with China Sourcing agent
If you just storage, consolidate, make packaging your goods, then most China sourcing agent can provide this service for you, especially for packing service, most forwarder agent can’t provide this service. but for inventory control, few China sourcing agent may provide this service.
For you quickly know the difference service among them, I make a simple list as following:
How much for renting China warehouse?
If you already have cooperated with China freight forwarding company, don't forget to consult with them. Most Chinese freight forwarders, if you cooperate with them ship out your goods by sea or air from China to your country, can provide free storage period, with 7 days, 2 weeks, one month or even longer time.
The China sourcing agent will provide one or two months of free warehousing services if you cooperate with them. As well as cargo consolidation, cargo packaging, and other services at reasonable charges. Last year, we had a Brazilian customer who sent the goods directly from the factory to the Shenzhen freight forwarder warehouse. Among them, 10 cardboard boxes were damaged and required to change the carton. The freight forwarder charge 150 US dollars for this.
If you need Inventory management for your goods, then you need to work with a professional 3PL company. They will charge according to the size, quantity, etc. of your goods.
How to find the perfect China Warehouse?
An ideal China warehouse, in addition to meeting your requirements, (in case of special item, you need a warehouse with different measures and equipment.) also requires the following features:
- Good Location: Location is very important because it will impact on your transportation costs and efficiency. Generally, it will close to the port, airport
in manufacturer concentration center or large wholesale markets, such as Dongguan, Guangzhou. - Enough space for stocking your goods
- Safe: the warehouse has a monitoring system that can be monitored 24 hours a day to ensure cargo safety.
- Equipped with fire fighting equipment.
- Other equipment, such as providing adequate loading and unloading tools, parking spaces, etc.
Now it’s your turn
I hope this article helps you a lot with leasing a China warehouse. should you have any questions, please leave your comments below, I would love to hear from you and will reply you quickly, or just click here to contact Bling sourcing directly.