Seven points to compare when choosing a warehouse
1. Location and transport arrangements
Consider the warehouse address alongside where goods come from, how they are received and the delivery routes you use most often. A site close to your office is not necessarily the most practical for moving goods. Ask how vehicle collection and inbound deliveries are coordinated, then assess whether day-to-day operations will work for you.
2. Whether the facility can store your goods
Prepare the dimensions, weight, packaging format and storage conditions for your products. If they require a particular temperature, security equipment or other special handling, confirm each requirement with the provider. Do not assume that every product is suitable simply because a company offers commercial warehousing.
3. Receiving and discrepancy handling
Find out what information must be submitted before goods arrive, what is checked at receiving, and who follows up if items are missing or damaged. These responsibilities affect when stock can become available for orders and help your team verify issues with the supplier.
4. Whether inventory information is sufficient
Understand how you can view stock, when records are updated and how count discrepancies are handled. Rather than only asking whether the provider has a system, use an example such as a stock shortage or quantity mismatch to learn how the process works and what information you will receive.
5. Whether the service connects with order fulfilment
If you may need single-item orders, kits or retail replenishment later, ask about them at the same time. A commercial warehouse that stores goods and a service that picks and packs orders may have different scopes. Confirm how packing instructions and order information are passed to the warehouse.
6. Whether the fee schedule is complete
Check storage, receiving, picking, packaging materials, transport and additional work separately. Ask about minimum charges and billing units. Compare quotations using the same stock and order information; a lower-looking price may simply include fewer tasks.
7. Change and exit arrangements
Ask how an increase in peak-season volume is confirmed, what preparation is needed to change the service, and how goods and records are returned if the partnership ends. Flexibility needs a defined process; a general statement that a provider can accommodate you is not enough.
How Kube can help
Kube provides warehousing and dispatch services that cover storage and order fulfilment. Receiving, inventory, pick and pack, and handover for delivery can be discussed together. Sharing product information and expected dispatch patterns first helps confirm a suitable service scope.
Compare providers using the same operating information
If each provider receives different information, their quotations and service scopes cannot be compared fairly. Prepare the number of SKUs, dimensions of each product, average stock levels, inbound frequency, the share of B2C and B2B orders, average items per order, and any labelling or repacking requirements. Give the same information to each shortlisted provider and ask them to state their assumptions, billing units and exclusions.
Do not assess a warehouse only by whether it meets today's needs. If you expect to add Shopify, retail replenishment or HKTVmall orders, explain that from the start and ask whether the same inventory can support different fulfilment workflows. This can reduce the need to move stock or rebuild records as the business grows.
Do not overlook day-to-day communication
System features matter, but it is just as practical to know who follows up and how decisions are confirmed when there is a receiving discrepancy, an urgent order or a change to packing instructions. Test the provider with a real exception—for example, one carton is missing shortly before a campaign—and ask how it would be recorded, reported and escalated for a decision. Specific answers make it easier to estimate the management time a partnership will require.
