Pallet Truck Shop, a leading pallet truck provider has urged businesses to look to the future as it is predicted that business could boom for warehouses, manufacturing plants and distribution centres in the next few years. A new study by Verdict Retail has revealed predictions that ecommerce will grow by an estimated 50% over the next five years, making online shopping a £50bn a year industry by 2018. The Office for National Statistics backed up the figures, estimating that online shopping grew by 22.5% in August 2013, in comparison with figures from the same month in 2012.
Now Pallet Truck Shop is advising all those who think they might be affected by the huge increase in online retail to invest in preparation for the future. Increased emphasis on online commerce will put a huge amount of pressure on warehouses and distribution centres to be able to cope with the demand, and it is up to the businesses of the UK to ensure that they are prepared for the upcoming surge in business.
Phil Chesworth, Managing Director of Pallet Truck Shop, says, "The figures speak for themselves when it comes to the huge boom in online shopping and retail, and it will have a knock-on effect for the businesses which must store, supply and deliver these products. They must have efficient systems for receiving, transporting and distributing goods from their premises, and many businesses will need to place further investment in their pallet trucks and manual handling equipment in order to deal with the strain."
Workforces can only be fully functional if they are fully equipped with the apparatus that they need to do the job. If there is a shortage of pallet trucks or other equipment used to transport goods from one area to another, a backlog of goods to move around the workplace could develop, slowing down operations considerably and putting a business at risk at upsetting clients with late dispatches or delayed deliveries.
Being able to get through a higher volume of work with more equipment also means that businesses can take on larger orders. This will result in larger profit margins and more satisfied customers as they are not held back or constrained by the abilities of their equipment. Having a fleet of highly functional pallet trucks will speed up productivity in the workplace and allow businesses to keep up with the surge in business that they will experience as a result of online prevalence.