Evaluate location relevance to your customers and carriers, WMS and API integration, SLA guarantees for pick/pack/ship, peak season capacity, labor availability and costs, security and insurance, returns processing, and value‑added services such as kitting or temperature control. Also validate carrier lanes and transit times to your primary destinations.

Close access to Aberdeen Harbour and Aberdeen International Airport shortens drayage and handling time for ocean and air freight, enabling faster inbound replenishment and reduced inventory days. This reduces landed cost per SKU when consolidation and scheduled sailings or flights are available, and improves responsiveness to B2B replenishment cycles.

Prioritize robust racking and scalable footprint, segregated returns and reserve areas, climate control if required, modern WMS with EDI/API, real‑time inventory visibility, and security systems. Also confirm quality and compliance credentials relevant to your goods (e.g., ISO 9001, BRC for food, GDP for pharma) and demonstrated peak‑season staffing plans.

Use a total cost‑to‑serve model comparing rent, labor, handling, inventory carrying, transport (inbound and outbound), and service level penalties. Run scenario sensitivity for single vs multi‑node networks, evaluate carrier rates from candidate sites, and pilot volumes to validate throughput assumptions. Monitor KPIs (OTD, inventory accuracy, cost per pick) to iterate network design.