Ware2Go also provides inventory visibility and tracks orders.
UPS has rolled out a technology company and platform called Ware2Go that’s designed to connect merchants with available warehousing capacity.
Ware2Go also provides inventory visibility and tracks order progress for both the merchant and warehouse.
Ware2Go officially launched in July after an incubation process with BCG Digital Ventures, which said it had partnered closely with UPS over the past year to build, develop and launch the solution.
Availability for U.S. industrial real estate stood at 7.2 percent for the second quarter of 2018, the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2000, according to real estate firm CBRE’s report, Q2 2018 U.S. Industrial & Logistics Figures. However, net asking rents for industrial real estate across the nation stood at $7.11 per square foot for the quarter, the highest level since CBRE began tracking the metric in 1989.
U.S. warehouses average 34 years old, according to a CBRE report, Old Storage: Warehouse Modernization in Early States, which was released at the end of March. CBRE said that most facilities in the United States built prior to the mid-2000s have limitations that preclude their use for e-commerce distribution, such as low ceilings, small footprints, uneven floors and inadequate docking.
Additionally, UPS said rising rental rates and e-commerce growth have shifted warehousing from large centralized sites to localized facilities across major markets.
“Ware2Go uses innovative online technology to match excess warehouse and fulfillment capacity with merchant demand to provide transparent inventory, order fulfillment and final delivery,” said Scott Price, chief transformation and strategy officer at UPS. “We’re solving for two major problems: speed to market and efficient warehousing.”
Ware2Go recruits and certifies warehouses in strategic locations, establishing a network of vetted fulfillment partners, UPS said, adding that merchants then can position products closer to their customers without the need for researching or vetting providers — or making long-term volume and time commitments.
“Ware2Go manages onboarding of warehouse space in anticipation of merchant needs so our warehouses aren’t waiting on customers,” a UPS spokesperson told American Shipper. “We aim for deliberate, measured matching and growth of our customers. Since Ware2Go vets all facilities prior to onboarding them on the platform, we carefully manage the warehouse supply side so that those brought onto the platform quickly become active, fulfilling orders for our merchants.”
The new solution provides merchants with end-to-end order fulfillment — from storage, pick/pack fulfillment and shipping — with guaranteed two-day delivery by UPS. The spokesperson said the service is available within the continental United States.
Since Ware2Go manages the relationships with warehouses, merchants get the service levels and pricing they might not receive on their own, according to UPS.
Third-party logistics providers don’t typically serve smaller merchants because they don’t have a large number of orders per month, but Ware2Go has a standard pricing structure for receiving, storing, picking and packing, and shipping by region for the two-day delivery service, the spokesperson explained. “Ware2Go provides smaller businesses with the service, space and price they need without minimum or long-term commitments,” the spokesperson said.
UPS connecting merchants, warehouses
