Does your warehouse deliver? The shortage of UK warehouse space continues to falter behind the demand, especially with increased ecommerce and fulfilment warehousing requirements. The trends of online shopping and discount retailers has led to increased demand for warehouse space.
Shortage of Warehouse Space in the UK
Since our last blog post on this topic the outlook has remained very much the same. The shortage of UK warehouse space continues to be a problem within the logistics supply chain.
Although warehouse facilities are being built, they are not meeting the significant demand – plus elements such as specific market requirements and location is playing a big part on the uptake. Recent ‘new builds’ have been dedicated facilities for retailers, such as the new Lidl UK warehouse in Bedfordshire.
Location is playing a key role in both the development of new warehouse facilities and acquisition of existing space. The industry has seen a significant demand for facilities located next to major transport routes, especially with the shift towards ecommerce and discounted retailers. Prime locations with excellent transport links are in high demand, with a rise of parcel deliveries influenced by the levels of ecommerce purchases.
Rise of Ecommerce
The main culprit to the lack of warehouse space is the rise of ecommerce businesses. In our previous blog we looked at the demands of online retailers, including 10% of all warehouse demand being generated by Amazon. The total number of Amazon Fulfilment Centres has increased to 16 in 2018, however the percentage of total warehousing associated with Amazon is considerably higher. Coupled with this, retailers have increased their ecommerce offerings and consumer uptake has risen.
It has been suggested that by 2020 demand will exceed supply for UK warehousing, which could lead to a strain on ecommerce deliveries to customers. It will be a case of ‘watch this space’ over the next 12 months or so to see if any major warehousing developments are built across the UK to meet this demand. One suggestion has been to open warehousing on the same sites as retail parks, for a lower cost than building within the town/city boundary. Whether this materialises or not we will have to wait and see.
The NX Group: Warehouse Facilities
How can we help? Our warehouse team operate across three facilities in Northamptonshire, a prime location for warehousing and logistics. In times where there is a shortage of warehouse space, we are here to help with your warehousing requirements. We provide customers with the complete supply chain solution, as our services incorporate distribution, parcel deliveries and same day courier services.
If you would like to find out more about the services The NX Group offer, including warehousing and distribution, please contact the team. Call us on 01604 217855 or email sales@thenxgroup.com
