The beauty of the modern world is that there are plenty of new and accessible business opportunities just waiting around the corner at all times. ECommerce businesses are a brilliant example of this; anyone now has the ability to set up an online shop and start selling products from their home. All you need is some inventory to sell, and you’re basically good to go. The costs are kept low as you don’t have a brick-and-mortar store to pay for, and the earnings can be substantial. 

There is one problem; where do you keep your inventory when running a business from home? You want to keep the costs as low as possible, and here are three suggestions:

At-home storage 

The first option is obvious; store your inventory at home. Depending on what you sell, you might be able to keep your stock in a spare room. A lot of home businesses will use a garage to store things in, or you could invest in a large garden shed for the same purpose. 

The advantage of this is that you have control over the inventory at all times, and it effectively costs nothing. The downside is that you have limited space, so you may run out of stock and be unable to keep up with the demand. 

Self-storage solutions

Alternatively, you can store your inventory away from your home at a storage facility. If you check out Welshpool Self Storage, you’ll see that most companies offer storage units of varying sizes. Some are big enough to be mini-warehouses, while others are much smaller. 

The advantage of storing things in self-storage facilities is that you have more space and more security. It’s also a lot easier to upgrade your storage space, and the costs are far lower than if you rented a warehouse. Warehouses are an option, but they will be super expensive and are only really necessary if you have vast amounts of stock to sell. 

Dropshipping 

Thirdly, you can avoid storing your inventory anywhere by utilizing dropshipping instead. This is an eCommerce method where you make purchases from somewhere and get the purchases delivered to your customers. There are plenty of online sites that are perfect for dropshipping, letting you buy things for bargain prices. Then, you list the same items on your store, and when someone purchases them from you you buy them from the other site and choose the customer’s address as the delivery location. 

The advantage is that you don’t pay for any storage costs and haven’t got to worry about running out of space. The downside is that you need to find a suitable ‘supplier’ for your inventory, and you also have to depend on their stock. If they run out of items, you have to list them as sold out until the other company gets them in stock again. 

In summary, your three options are to store things at home, store them in a self-storage facility, or use dropshipping to bypass the need for inventory. Weigh up all the options and decide which one will suit your business the best.

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