Focus on location relative to customers and carriers, available storage types, cross-dock and staging capacity, WMS functionality (real-time inventory, EDI/API), SLA definitions, labor scalability, and VAS capabilities such as kitting and returns. Confirm security, compliance, and disaster recovery provisions as part of site assessment.

Include fixed and variable warehousing fees, inbound receiving and put-away, pick-and-pack labor, packaging materials, returns handling, and outbound transportation. Add overheads for value-added services, WMS integration costs, minimums, and penalties. Model costs by SKU, order profile, and geography to reveal real margins.

Evaluate proximity to trunk highways, intermodal terminals, and regional consolidation points; the density of LTL and parcel carrier networks; availability of cross-docking for same-day routing; and access to freight forwarders for international shipments. Carrier contracts and scheduled cutoffs also affect service speed and rates.

Require real-time inventory accuracy, order cycle time, on-time-in-full (OTIF), pick/pack accuracy, dock-to-stock time, and returns turn-around. Insist on API or EDI connectivity for orders, inventory, and ASN workflows, plus regular operational reporting and dashboards to monitor SLA compliance and exceptions.