Buying and selling on the internet is a thriving business in Germany. Every year, more newly minted retailers register their online business with the authorities in order to run it as a main or secondary income.
In doing so, most founders want to avoid renting a physical shop. Nevertheless, the merchandise and the business inventory have to be stored somewhere. Renting a goods warehouse in Selfstorage offers a welcome option here.
Anyone at the beginning of their new career as an online retailer must therefore think about storing their goods even before officially setting up the business.
How much space will the goods require? What type of storage is suitable for my e commerce company? Is a Selfstorage unit sufficient or do I have to rent an entire warehouse? How often do I need access to the goods? Can I find a suitable storage room at my location? Could I run my goods warehouse via Full Service providers such as BOXIE24 and thus reduce my workload?
In the following, we will answer these questions.
What type of storage space do you need?
When looking for a goods warehouse, you must already be clear about what your future workflows will look like. If you receive or ship goods daily, you need a far more accessible space than with occasional access.
In addition, storing your goods plays a major role in choosing a suitable storage location. Will your goods be stacked on pallets or is storage on shelves more appropriate?
If you store large or heavy items, you must not only have access to ramps and parking spaces and forecourts for lorries and delivery vans due to goods warehouse logistics, but also the option to use pallet trucks and forklift trucks.
In this case, you should look for your own warehouse, which not only offers sufficient space, but also the option to set it up and arrange it according to your own needs.
What storage space floor area does your inventory require
When storing your inventory on pallets, you should know the standard sizes and stacking options in order to achieve the best possible use of space.
The most common pallets for storing goods and merchandise are Europaletten, which come in the standard size 1200 cm (L) x 800 cm (B) x 144 cm (H) and have a load capacity of up to 1500 kg.
The stacking height of filled pallets depends on the industry sector in which you want to operate. As a rule, a pallet stack must not exceed the limit of 4 m.
A pallet stack therefore requires a floor area of 0.96 m² and a maximum volume of 3.84 m³. On a 50 m² area, you can therefore store a maximum of 50 pallet stacks.
The standardised Europaletten are precisely tailored to storing Euroboxen. The following number of Euroboxen fit on one Europalette:
- 16 Euroboxen in the size 300 mm x 200 mm
- 8 Euroboxen in the size 400 mm x 300 mm
- 4 Euroboxen in the size 600 mm x 400 mm
How much does it cost to rent a warehouse and how is the rent made up?
The cost of renting storage space for commercial use depends on which business model you pursue. If you want to start small, for example to enter online trade slowly and cautiously, renting a huge warehouse is probably not very appropriate.
Selfstorage offers a range of solutions that allow you to manage with small storage rooms at the beginning and expand them over time as needed. Selfstorage operators specialised in warehouse logistics nowadays even offer tiny areas in large warehouses that are shared with other warehouse tenants.
But if you want to start at full operation with a fully stocked goods warehouse right from the beginning, or you have large and or heavy goods, renting a warehouse via the property market is probably more suitable for you.
When calculating the costs for a goods warehouse that you rent via a property provider, you should also consider insurance, deposits, and the monitoring of your storage facility.
Which factors determine the price per m² and per month?
The costs for your warehousing are influenced by the following circumstances:
Location
Warehousing in major cities such as Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, or Hamburg is generally far more expensive than in smaller cities or in the countryside. In doing so, you rarely receive offers centrally in the inner city, but at best you have to be satisfied with a storage facility near a motorway exit.
Age of the warehouse building
New builds are more expensive per square metre than older buildings because, as a starting point, they are better designed for modern warehousing. New warehouses are generally better air conditioned and offer better protection against moisture, temperature fluctuations, and other environmental influences.
Size of the storage area
If you want to rent a warehouse via the property market, the price per square metre becomes lower the more storage space you take up.
Contract term
Long term contracts are usually cheaper in terms of the price per square metre. However, property platforms also feature a number of warehouse landlords who only make their warehouses available for short periods in order to be better able to counter market fluctuations.
Managed warehousing or self management
Further costs arise from insurance cover, maintenance costs, security monitoring, warehouse management systems, and general ancillary costs such as heating, air conditioning, or ventilation measures. If you rent your storage space from a managed warehousing provider, these costs are usually included in the rent. If you rent a warehouse yourself via a property agent, you must ensure yourself that you meet all legal requirements.
How are access and security regulated?
When you store your things, you naturally want to make sure that this goes smoothly. When viewing before signing the contract, make sure, for example, that the warehouse is either completely level, or that there are at least ramps with which you can reach the storage area.
In addition, parking spaces and or loading areas should be available that allow access with lorries and delivery vans. Further points that you should take a closer look at with regard to future access are:
- How do you get into the area? Are conventional locks available or are there code and card access systems?
- Is there a visitor and delivery log?
- How good is the lighting in the warehouse?
- Which access points are there and how are they monitored?
- Is an alarm system or another safeguard such as CCTV and video surveillance already in the warehouse or do you have to procure it yourself?
- Are there noise and heavy goods traffic restrictions on the premises or can you approach the warehouse without limitation 24 and 7?
- How is access to electricity, water, radiators, etc. regulated?
Also take a good look around the surrounding area. How remote is the warehouse? How easily can it be reached at night by unauthorised persons? Find out whether the area is heavily affected by break ins, theft, or vandalism.
What amenities and what quality do you get in the warehouse?
If you rent an entire warehouse or share it with others, you initially assume that it only serves to house your goods and merchandise. But you will soon find that you spend time there more often and longer than you thought.
Therefore, also pay attention to your own wellbeing and make sure that you have at least basic amenities such as access to clean toilets or washrooms and possibly an office.
You will also soon find that for proper warehousing you also need a Warehouse Management System (WMS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Since these are usually operated via the cloud, you must ensure that you have access to the internet and that you will not be in one of the countless dead zones in Germany.
Health measures for your safety and that of any possible employees must also be observed. Make sure that, when working, you stay in warm, dry, and clean premises that can be well ventilated in order to prevent mould and other pathogens.
Who are warehouses suitable for?
While warehousing and large warehouses have largely been associated in recent years with e commerce and large online retailers such as Amazon, a number of industries can benefit from renting additional storage space.
Retail has always used storage spaces to ensure the stock of items and products without restricting or overcrowding the sales area of the physical shop. At the same time, the storage space can also be used to store seasonal decorations or trade fair equipment.
Tradespeople also use warehouses to get surplus material, or material bought in bulk, and rarely used but necessary tools and machines out of the way. In addition, more and more tradespeople are running their business from their van and delivery vehicle in order to avoid expensive commercial or office rents.
Other businesses are increasingly moving their archives and bookkeeping, which they must store securely for eight to ten years according to the law, into Selfstorage or warehouses in order to create space in the office.
Which rules apply to the use, safety, and materials in warehouses?
Safety is the very top priority in warehousing. In order to ensure safety at all times, you must observe the following principles for proper warehousing:
- Always keep your warehouse clean and tidy to avoid accidents.
- Do not exceed the load and stacking limits of the pallets under any circumstances.
- Make sure that all lines, both electrical and data cables, are never left exposed.
- Create clearly marked escape routes and place fire extinguishing equipment in the places required by fire protection regulations. Also install a sprinkler system.
- Do not store prohibited hazardous substances, including flammable materials, gases under pressure, oxidising substances, explosive mixtures, as well as harmful to health or environmentally harmful chemicals in your warehouse.
- Anchor shelves and attach safety nets to avoid personal injury or property damage caused by falling objects.
- Hold regular safety briefings for your staff and require your employees to stay in the warehouse only with personal protective equipment such as safety helmets or safety shoes.
- Note that the safety measures mentioned are also required by insurers in order to ensure insurance cover for your business, your employees, and the stored items.
Can you rent part of a warehouse?
If an entire warehouse seems too large, but Selfstorage seems too small, you can opt for an intermediate solution and share the warehouse with others. In doing so, you can spread high warehouse rental costs across several units and also reduce ancillary costs.
However, if you arrange this privately, you must prepare for some problem areas in the contractual agreement.
With a partial area rental, pay particular attention to how costs for shared areas and the use of electricity, water, and internet are calculated.
In addition, you should determine when and how shared loading areas, ramps, pallet trucks, and forklift trucks are to be used. Are timetables already organised or do you have to negotiate availability with your co tenants with every delivery or collection?
Your insurers will probably also want to know who has access to your rented part and how security is ensured. Added to this is the uncertainty of whether others adhere just as rigorously to regulations, for example on the storage of dangerous goods, as you do. Misconduct by other tenants on the same area can fall back on you and even jeopardise your insurance cover.
At the same time, there are now some players in the Selfstorage market that take over the fair distribution of rent, ancillary costs, and the use of shared usable areas and vehicles for you. This type of warehouse manager rents out parts of large warehouses, provides security through guard teams or CCTV, and makes the use of utility vehicles available.
However, if you do not want to have anything at all to do with day to day warehousing and the problems and points of dispute that it brings with it, Full Service Storage could be the right solution for your storage needs.
Get to know the BOXIE24 warehouse solution for companies
Full Service Storage is a warehouse option that removes the complicated logistics part for customers and, in addition to storage, also offers the transport of items or archives.
Providers like BOXIE24 can make entire warehouses available to you and fill them according to your specifications with the help of professional staff trained for warehouse work, without you having to leave the house for it.
Full Service Lagerhaltung is particularly suitable for beginners in warehousing because it allows you to concentrate better on the essentials of setting up the business, while others take over the boring and often strenuous warehouse work.
In addition, Full Service Lagerhaltung offers the possibility of flexible warehousing. In doing so, you can start small with minimal storage space and, as the company develops further, expand the storage area.
With reputable Full Service providers like BOXIE24, you not only receive transparent contracts that guarantee you the secure and often also insured storage of your inventory. Should the business idea not prove to be as profitable as expected, Full Service options give you the advantage of not being penalised with long notice periods.
For a non binding offer for your warehouse needs, simply contact BOXIE24 by telephone on 0800-4030-180 or by email via the contact form on our website.
