How Built-to-Suite (BTS) Warehouses Benefit Ecommerce Fulfillment

Imagine you’re going clothes shopping. Going to a department store is convenient and affordable, but the clothing may not fit perfectly. If you want clothing specifically tailored to you, you should visit a custom designer who will make clothes that fit your size and preferences exactly.  

The same is true for ecommerce warehousing space. If your brand is looking for a warehouse that’s tailored to your needs and processes, you should consider a built-to-suit, or BTS, warehousing solution.  

In this article, we’ll dive deep into what BTS warehouses are, their key features, and how they compare to traditional warehouses.  

What is a built-to-suit (BTS) warehouse? 

A built-to-suit (or build-to-suit) warehouse is a warehousing solution that’s tailored to meet the unique needs of a specific tenant.  

This means that every aspect of the facility—from the space and layout to the racks and amenities—is configured to ensure maximum operational efficiency for the business using the facility.  

Built-to-suit warehouses are almost always offered by a real estate development firm or a company that owns some industrial real estate. You can also find BTS warehouses in industrial parks that house similar structures for multiple ecommerce retailers.  

While the lessor owns the land and warehouse structure, there is an agreement between the lessor and the lessee to ensure that the warehouse is constructed according to the specific client’s requirements. 

Key features of built-to-suit warehousing 

While each built-to-suit warehouse is different, BTS warehouses typically share a few signature features that appeal to ecommerce brands.  

Here are just some of the hallmarks of built-to-suit warehousing solutions, and how they can improve your warehouse management and efficiency. 

Customizable layouts 

In BTS warehousing, the entire warehouse setup is customized to meet the client’s specific requirements.  

For example, office and warehouse spaces are constructed to accommodate the scale of your operations while keeping future growth in mind.  

Similarly, the warehouse’s layout is customized and organized to create dedicated spaces for receiving, packing, processing, and shipping according to the logical flow of goods in your brand’s particular operations. This ensures an uninterrupted warehouse workflow where goods can be transported seamlessly between different sections with minimal disruptions, so you can maintain a higher level of efficiency. 

Depending on your needs, you can even customize the warehouse’s layout according to Grade A warehouse standards. For instance, you may install strategic internal roads so that heavy carriers can easily move throughout the warehouse. You may also ensure adequate parking spaces for loading and unloading, and set up entry and exit points to prevent congestion. 

Advanced technology integrations 

BTS warehouses can be configured to fully integrate with whatever advanced warehousing and supply chain technology your brand wants to use. Since this integration is done from the design and conception stage, the technology serves as the backbone of your operations, enabling you bake smart warehousing practices into your processes from the very beginning. 

For example, your BTS warehouse can incorporate technology solutions such as: 

• A centralized warehouse control system or warehouse management system (WMS) 
• Robotics to assist in the picking process 
• Automation throughout warehouse processes 
• Technical equipment or hardware (such as barcode scanners or mobile devices)  

With your preferred technology set up, your brand is in a better position to seamlessly support the needs of your human staff, making their jobs easier and helping improve productivity and safety. 

Flexible storage solutions 

Another highlight of BTS warehousing is the ability to design flexible storage solutions that perfectly align with your inventory storage requirements.  

For example, you can ensure that warehouse racks are designed according to specialized racking configurations to safely hold certain products. Additionally, you can set up cold storage or HAZMAT areas to meet industry-specific storage needs, or include features to meet your safety needs and sustainability goals (such as energy-efficient light fixtures and motion detectors).  

You can also design your BTS warehouse storage to be flexible enough to scale according to your business needs. As your storage needs grow with increased demand and expanding business operations, adjustments can be made to the warehouse design and functionality to accommodate this growth. 

Comparing built-to-suit warehousing with traditional alternatives 

Traditional types of warehouse solutions don’t always offer the same level of customization and flexibility as built-to-suit options. So, it’s important to carefully consider your options before deciding which approach is best for your brand. 

For starters, traditional warehousing involves leasing an existing warehouse space. As such, you won’t be able to make as many changes as you need to accommodate your specific requirements. You’ll experience this same type of limitation even with on-demand warehousing options, which may be even more limited since they often involve making use of space that’s not designed for fulfillment. 

In terms of cost, building a warehouse space from scratch requires significantly more investment than renting one. You can expect to spend around $28 per square foot of warehousing space, which can add up fast – a 1,200 square foot warehouse space, for example, may run you $33,600 or more to construct. Warehouse rentals are lower-investment, with an average base rental rate of about $0.85 per square foot per month. 

However, built-to-suit options are tailored exactly according to your specific warehousing needs. This helps you ensure that you’re not paying for any space that you don’t actually need, increasing value and possibly reducing the construction cost. Additionally, the high upfront cost could become a long-term investment, since you could save on operational expenses further down the line compared to renting a warehouse. 

BTS Warehousing	Traditional Warehousing
Fully customizable warehouse space and layout	Ready-built space and layout with no customization options
Facilities tailored to specific business needs	Facilities may not meet every business need
Scalability with business requirements	Difficult to scale with a growing business
Significant financial investment required upfront	More affordable for growing brands with less available capital

Do it all with ShipBob’s warehousing solutions 

For brands that want highly efficient warehousing operations but aren’t ready to invest in a long-term lease and custom warehouse, ShipBob has warehousing and fulfillment solutions that give you the best of both worlds.  

Here are some of the ways that brands can leverage ShipBob’s services to streamline their warehousing operations to save money and time. 

Outsource everything warehousing to ShipBob’s fulfillment centers 

ShipBob will take on inventory storage, picking, packing, and other warehousing activities for you, and take them fully off your plate. This gives you the freedom to focus on important initiatives to grow your ecommerce business.  

When you outsource fulfillment to ShipBob, you can also take advantage of the growth levers below to optimize your ecommerce and warehousing operations for efficiency and scalability.  

Leverage a global fulfillment network 

With dozens of fulfillment centers across the US and facilities in the UK, Europe, Australia, and Canada, ShipBob enables merchants to store their inventory in different regions without having to build their own warehouses.  

That means you won’t need to worry about the heavy investment associated with buying, building, or renting your own warehouse space in every region (including equipment, warehouse racks, overhead, and labor, as well as other hidden costs). Instead, you can simply choose the warehouse locations that best fit your fulfillment needs according to customer demand.  

Using ShipBob’s network makes it much easier and more cost-effective to scale. For instance, you can distribute your inventory strategically to reach more customers and reduce shipping costs and times. You can also seamlessly expand your services globally without having to deal with the complexities and costs of maintaining an overseas warehouse location. 

“By distributing our inventory across ShipBob’s US fulfillment centers, we have seen our own warehouse’s order flow drop to manageable numbers while maintaining peak sales during peak season.  We originally chose our fulfillment center locations based on what “looked right.” But over time we have learned to utilize ShipBob’s dynamic models to provide optimum distribution which has helped us a lot.”

Tom Wall, Vice President of Global Warehousing & Logistics at Beachwaver Co. 

Access real-time data and analytics 

With ShipBob as your logistics partner, you don’t have to worry about researching, purchasing, and setting up your own technology. All of ShipBob’s fulfillment centers are powered using the same proprietary software, which not only powers warehouse operations but also tracks the real-time data and performance metrics you need to optimize them. 

You can access these metrics through ShipBob’s dashboard, and view key inventory, order, fulfillment, and shipping KPIs on a single, intuitive platform.  

“ShipBob’s WMS is intuitive and easy to use with great reporting. Being able to track real-time metrics at the person-by-person level is awesome. We told our team that we wouldn’t be tracking their fulfillment metrics everyday, but having the functionality to see how people are doing is helpful for forecasting. We have been able to set some standard practices of what’s fulfillable and what can be done in a day.”

Clint Sanders, VP of Operations of Bunker Branding   

Increase efficiency through automation 

ShipBob’s fulfillment centers make use of advanced fulfillment software to automate various warehousing activities to save time and boost order accuracy, including: 

• Barcode scanning throughout the picking and packing process to confirm that each order contains the correct items in the correct quantities 
• Box selection algorithms to automatically determine the best packaging size for each order based on its products  
• Automatic reorder point notifications to enable timely replenishment and prevent costly stockouts and backorders 
• Automatic pick list generation that sends pickers on the most efficient picking route through the warehouse 

“ShipBob can handle our order volume because they’re experts at what they do. The last company I worked at had their own warehouse, and I witnessed firsthand how messy and complicated fulfillment can be, especially at scale when it’s not what your company specializes in.

ShipBob’s fulfillment centers are nothing like that. I’ve been to multiple ShipBob locations, and I’ve seen how much they’ve invested into automation and how organized everything is. It’s no wonder that orders get out within 24 hours of being received – ShipBob is really good at what they do.”

Tyler McCann, Co-Founder of Taste Salud 

Keep operations in-house with ShipBob’s WMS 

Some businesses have existing warehouse space that works for them. For these businesses, it may be logical to keep fulfillment in-house, as it gives them greater control over how inventory is stored and how orders are fulfilled. 

But if you’re looking to optimize your current warehouse operations for cost and efficiency, ShipBob’s proprietary warehouse management system can help you do it. The system integrates with leading ecommerce platforms and existing ecommerce tools, and serves as a centralized location to manage your entire warehousing strategy. 

ShipBob’s WMS automatically receives and processes orders once they’re placed. It calculates optimal picking routes according to the storage location of items that need to be fulfilled and then generates picking lists accordingly. This helps speed up the picking process as your team can move seamlessly between various pick locations with minimal back and forth. 

The system is updated with real-time inventory data, allowing you to maintain accurate inventory records. You can use this to track where your inventory is at all times and how many units you have in stock, so you can place timely reorders and avoid issues related to stockouts and backorders. 

Moreover, the WMS allows your warehouse staff to run multiple checks and balances throughout receiving, putaway, storage, picking, and packing. This minimizes the risk of fulfillment errors, allowing you to improve your order and inventory accuracy rates. 

For more information about ShipBob’s outsourced and in-house warehousing solutions, click one of the buttons below for more information.  

Built-to-suit warehouse FAQs 

Below are answers to the most commonly asked questions about BTS warehouses.