{"id":885,"date":"2018-05-18T23:12:28","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T23:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shipbob.com\/uk\/blog\/shipping-big-cities-urban-fulfillment-centers\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T18:57:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T18:57:29","slug":"shipping-big-cities-urban-fulfillment-centers","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.shipbob.com\/uk\/blog\/shipping-big-cities-urban-fulfillment-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"Shipping to Big Cities: Why You Should Use Fulfilment Centers in Urban Areas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Table of Contents<\/p>

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

The importance of urban fulfilment centres<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t have to know much about real estate to know that location is everything. But unless you run a brick-and-mortar store<\/a>, you may believe you\u2019re off the hook when it comes to thinking about physical properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But wait! Even when you only sell online, geographic location does apply to you: Where you fulfil orders matters a great deal when it comes to the ability to meet customer expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re at the point where you can no longer fulfil orders on your own, and you don\u2019t want to run warehousing operations<\/a> yourself, you can outsource fulfilment to a third-party logistics<\/a> (3PL) provider. With that decision comes many options all over the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, having orders fulfilled in rural areas may have worked okay. But with today\u2019s consumers wanting everything now, in addition to continued population growth in big cities, using urban fulfilment centres (also known as \u201cdistribution centres<\/a>\u201c) is on the rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn why fulfilling orders in metro areas enables an efficient ecommerce logistics<\/a> strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of urban fulfilment centres<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Greater population = more buying power<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With a fulfilment centre<\/a> in a large city, you are closer to larger pockets of the general population, as compared to being in a more remote area. While rent is certainly more expensive in major cities, the tradeoff of not being in the middle of nowhere is that you are close to the majority of the buying power in the US. That\u2019s where your potential ecommerce customers live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we look at the chart below, we see the population of the largest metropolitan areas in the US from 2016. A fulfilment centre in any of the top cities listed below would be positioned to reach a good amount of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image source: Statista.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, you can identify major cities in the US on the map below by the darker marks. The redder the area, the greater the population per square mile, while the lighter areas are more barren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you can see, highly populated regions are present throughout the contiguous US. That\u2019s why having fulfilment centres in different regions can help you reach various areas with a high population density (more on that later!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image source: bl.ocks.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closer to customers = faster deliveries<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The whole point of using a fulfilment centre that\u2019s in a large city is to quickly reach people who live there, since there is less distance between where the order is fulfilled and the shipping destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting a package from Point A to Point B can be easily delivered the same day<\/a> or within 1-2 days when your inventory is already only a few miles away, rather than hundreds or thousands of miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As consumers are more impatient than ever before, offering fast deliveries can improve conversions on your website and reduce shopping cart abandonment<\/a>. But even if you have to ship something much farther, big cities are also where you find large airports for efficient distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More fulfilment centres = greater reach and less money spent on shipping<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Shipping your items from a single ecommerce fulfilment<\/a> centre in a major city can greatly benefit the customers who live near there; however, your customers who are on the other side of the country will still have to wait longer or pay for expedited shipping via air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what\u2019s better than a fulfilment centre in a major city? Having inventory in several major cities! After all, that\u2019s how Amazon provides guaranteed two-day shipping for their Prime service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to fast delivery, you can also reduce your shipping and logistics costs<\/a>. This is based on how shipping zones work<\/a>, or the geographical areas that couriers ship to, spanning from Zone 1 to Zone 8 in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The location from which an order is shipped is the point of origin and located in Zone 1 (as seen as yellow dots which mark fulfilment centres on the maps below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The address it\u2019s shipped to is the destination zone. The destination zone number will vary, depending on how far it is from the point of origin, with Zone 8 being the farthest away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shipping couriers use zones to calculate rates for certain services. For services that are zoned, the greater the zone, the greater the cost in most cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we see on the maps above, using one fulfilment centre leaves the rest of the country paying more for shipments (because they are shipping to higher zones).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using three fulfilment centres in major cities around the country reduces the higher zones (and also reduces shipping costs<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The location of each fulfilment centre should support where you can offer same-day delivery<\/a> to two-day delivery<\/a> for the greatest amount of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re looking to maximise efficiency, you need to factor in more than just one urban fulfilment centre. Learn more by viewing the webinar recording of \u201cHow to Transform Your Logistics Using Distributed Inventory<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Selling products online lets you reach customers all over the world at all times of the day. Though you can work from anywhere when you run an ecommerce store, your fulfilment centres should be located where you can most efficiently ship to the greatest number of customers. To maximise this, you will want to use multiple fulfilment centres in highly populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re looking for a 3PL<\/a> with fulfilment centres in big cities across the US, ShipBob<\/a> owns and operates facilities across the country (and in other countries). You can utilise our strategic geographic footprint and split your inventory across the country to reduce your transit times and shipping costs<\/a>. This includes seamless communication across fulfilment centres and the ability to automate alerts to let you know when it\u2019s time to replenish inventory<\/a> for each SKU at each facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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