Evaluate carrier access and transit times to your customer base, accuracy and latency of the WMS/Warehouse-TMS integration, SLA performance for pick-pack-ship, space flexibility for seasonality, and available value-added services such as kit assembly, returns handling, and temperature control.

Location affects outbound freight miles, carrier choice, and last-mile costs. A Ballina facility can reduce transit time to regional NSW and northern routes, lower road freight spend versus distant metros, and offer quicker replenishment cycles for nearby retailers.

Require a modern WMS with real-time inventory, API connectivity to your order management and carriers, reporting on fill rates and inventory accuracy, support for batch/lot tracking, and clear SLAs for receiving, cycle counts, and order cutoffs.

Key levers include negotiating storage density and slotting to reduce handling, consolidating carrier contracts for volume discounts, aligning cutoffs to reduce expedited freight, using value-added cross-docking to cut touches, and selecting service levels matched to product margins.