The appeal of e-commerce solutions while people are staying at home is obvious—ordering online limits unnecessary trips to stores and the risk of exposure to COVID-19. This commercial purchasing method was already popular, but now it’s become essential as companies are feeling impact to their revenue streams. Of course, e-commerce and warehouse storage go hand in hand. With consumer behaviors being changed (possibly long-term), more companies are discovering the value of investing in outside warehouse storage.
According to an article written by CNBC, Amazon has ramped up hiring to help shoulder some of the demand as warehouse activities pick up. The company is now hiring 75,000 more workers after filling 100,000 positions last month. Additionally, Amazon is offering raises and double overtime pay to its warehouse workers to keep up with its record service times. Still, its Prime and grocery delivery platforms are reporting limited availability on items as consumers are ordering in unprecedented volumes. Difficulty stocking points not only to pressures on manufacturing lines, but also to self-imposed storage limitations by businesses that sell to Amazon.
Industrial real estate operators and warehouse developers are anticipating a surge in warehouse demand as a result of these trends, as written in the Wall Street Journal, which noted that tenants are getting “fatter” as a direct result of companies increasing “safety stock.” Of course, this is going to be particularly true for temperature-controlled storage space used to house pharmaceuticals and food products. The CBRE group, a national commercial real-estate firm, projects the development of 75 to 100 million square feet of industrial freezer and cooler space over the course of the next five years.
At Langham Logistics, we are offering a variety of storage features and services across the country, including temperature-controlled options. If you are interested, please reach out to us, and we will work to accommodate your storage requirements as your trusted logistics experts.
