{"id":1307,"date":"2024-09-23T16:19:33","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T16:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shipbob.com\/au\/blog\/differences-warehouse-fulfillment-center\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T22:20:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T22:20:20","slug":"differences-warehouse-fulfillment-center","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.shipbob.com\/au\/blog\/differences-warehouse-fulfillment-center\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does a Fulfilment Centre Do & How Do They Compare to Warehousing Services?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Table of Contents<\/p>

** Minutes<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

What does a warehousing solution do?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a fulfilment centre?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do fulfilment centres work?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a fulfilment warehouse?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the differences between warehousing and fulfilment centres?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benefits of using a fulfilment centre<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 examples of companies using fulfilment centres<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Streamline fulfilment with ShipBob’s WMS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or grow global with ShipBob\u2019s fulfilment centres<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fulfilment centre FAQs<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>

Key Takeaways<\/h2><\/span><\/div>
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1<\/p><\/div>

Warehouses primarily store inventory for extended periods, while fulfilment centres focus on quickly processing and shipping orders to customers.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2<\/p><\/div>

Fulfilment centres handle a range of logistics activities, including order picking, packing, and shipping, often partnering with third-party logistics providers.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

3<\/p><\/div>

Outsourcing fulfilment to a professional centre can save time and improve efficiency, allowing businesses to focus on strategic growth rather than operational tasks.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

4<\/p><\/div>

Fulfilment centres often offer expedited shipping options and use technology to provide real-time inventory management and order tracking for ecommerce businesses.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The terms \u201cwarehouse\u201d and \u201cfulfilment centre\u201d (or “distribution centre<\/a>“) are often used interchangeably \u2013 but in reality, the two have very different connotations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While both are large buildings that hold inventory for businesses that sell goods, they each have their own unique use cases, and serve different purposes for ecommerce brands.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we\u2019ll define and break down the definitions and benefits of fulfilment centres and warehouses, as well as the key differences between the two so you have a better idea of which option is best for your business needs.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does a warehousing solution do?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A warehouse is a large storage centre or industrial space designed to house inventory in bulk. A warehousing solution<\/a> refers to a company that stores products on a business\u2019s behalf within their warehouses for an extended period of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warehouses can be dedicated to storing only certain types of inventory. For example, some warehousing providers geared toward wholesale business may only store inventory dedicated t<\/span>oB2B ecommerce<\/a> orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to acquiring warehouse space, brands have two options: buy (or build) their own, or lease warehouse space from an outside warehousing provider. Larger brands or retailers with lots of resources may be able to afford their own warehouse; for small businesses, leasing warehouse space is typically more cost-effective \u2013 especially if they partner with a warehousing partner and rent space in a warehouse in conjunction with other ecommerce businesses.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a fulfilment centre?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A fulfilment centre is a part of the supply chain and serves as the hub for all logistics processes needed to get a product from the seller to the customer. It houses all of the activities involved in the order fulfilment process, ranging from order picking<\/a> and processing to packaging and shipping. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with warehousing, ecommerce brands have two options when it comes to finding a fulfilment centre: either operate their own, or partner with a <\/span>third-party logistics (3PL)<\/span><\/a> provider, such as ShipBob, that operates their own facility (or facilities).  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fulfillment
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do fulfilment centres work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a fulfilment centre, an ecommerce business\u2019s inventory is received and briefly stored in preparation for fulfilling customer orders. After a shopper completes a purchase on the business\u2019s ecommerce store, that inventory is picked, packed in a box or poly mailer, and labelled for shipment. Last-mile couriers then pick up labelled packages from the fulfilment centre, and transport them to the end customer.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fulfilment centres can process both business-to-business (B2B) orders \u2014 typically a high volume of product that is sent to a big-box retailer \u2014 as well as direct-to-consumer (DTC) orders, which are shipped directly to an individual consumer\u2019s home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a seller outsources ecommerce fulfilment<\/a>, the fulfilment provider is completing the fulfilment process on the store owner\u2019s behalf. This includes everything from inventory management to negotiating rates with shipping couriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outsourcing order fulfilment processes<\/a> to a fulfilment professional can make it easier to manage inventory, improve customer service, and save the seller lots of time to focus on more strategic tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn How to Choose a 3PL<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is a fulfilment warehouse?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A fulfilment warehouse is another term for \u201cfulfilment centre\u201d. A stand-alone warehouse differs drastically from a fulfilment warehouse, as a warehouse is usually a place where inventory is just stored, while a fulfilment warehouse serves many other purposes and houses many other activities besides inventory storage. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the differences between warehousing and fulfilment centres?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a deeper look at a few of the nuances that distinguish fulfilment centres from warehouses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long-term storage vs. short-term storage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While there is a warehousing component to fulfilment centres \u2014<\/span> in that it does store a merchant\u2019s inventory \u2014<\/span> the main goal of a fulfilment centre is to turn inventory over quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideally, inventory should not sit in a fulfilment centre for more than a month, or the merchant may be stuck paying high inventory holding costs. Sellers should only store enough inventory in their fulfilment centres to make sure there is always enough product on hand to meet demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, the role of a warehouse or an on-demand warehousing solution<\/a> is to store products for long periods of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Operations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Warehouses are generally static, with the main activity being receiving inventory or transferring it out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fulfilment centres, on the other hand, are hubs of activity, full of continuous movement and much more complex operations. A fulfilment partner provides a variety of order fulfilment services in a fulfilment centre, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n