It’s a simple concept. Warehouse space sized to a company’s immediate needs and located close to the final customer. That combination is making on-demand warehousing a powerful alternative to long-term warehouse arrangements for companies ranging from Fortune 100 to startups.
What could KFC and Exploding Kittens possibly have in common? On-demand warehousing, of course.
As different as their circumstances and products might be, both companies have used on-demand warehousing to fill a short-term need. At KFC, the problem was an untimely shortage of warehouse space that it had been promised by a third-party logistics provider (3PL). For Exploding Kittens, the problem was no warehouse space to fill an overwhelming surge of orders when the product launched.
If you haven’t heard of on-demand warehousing, you’re not alone. It is a nascent concept with plenty of promise to become a full-fledged industry segment. However, it’s also already a reality from Manhattan to Mumbai and Melbourne as well as most everywhere in between. KFC, by the way, relied on it in England while Exploding Kittens was in the United States.
On-demand warehousing got its start in 2013. “That’s when we started Flexe and created the category,” says Karl Siebrecht, co-founder and CEO.
From the beginning, on-demand warehousing has been well received. While many startup companies rely on it, so do a large number of Fortune 1000 companies including some of the top 100. The overall mix includes e-commerce companies as well as more traditional business-to-business (B2B) companies.
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