1. Dallas’s central location can reach nearly 1/3 of the US population in 2 days via Ground service. While it’s considered part of the Southwest, Dallas sits near the middle of the country. This central location enables Dallas fulfillment providers to reach a large segment of the US population within 2 days.
If you use FedEx’s Ground service map, you can see that a very large territory can be reached from Dallas with 2-day Ground service, including Chicago, Atlanta, Denver and Phoenix. That’s over 100 million people, or just less than 1/3 of all Americans. Companies with large customer segments within this territory can enjoy the cost savings that Ground service brings compared to more expensive premium and expedited services. Remember, parcel shipping costs are your biggest fulfillment expense. The cost of expanding your network to include Dallas or relocating your fulfillment center to Dallas could easily be offset by parcel savings, if your current network is inefficient.
2. Dallas has a growing labor market. In our post-pandemic society, logistics companies are struggling to find and retain order fulfillment associates. Due to the rise of eCommerce, the labor supply/demand balance is particularly tough in eCommerce fulfillment. If you’re an online seller that outsources fulfillment, you may be thinking “Well, managing a workforce is not my problem.” But it is. Your fulfillment partner’s team becomes your team. If that provider can’t find reliable warehouse workers, your results will suffer.
Fortunately, finding qualified warehouse workers is less of a struggle in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, which has been recently identified as the top-performing labor market in the U.S. Already home to a large population, Dallas-Fort Worth was expected to see a net influx just shy of 80,000 people in 2021 – and even more in 2022. When combined with people returning to the workforce, this increase will bolster Dallas’s labor pool and help with the staffing needs of Dallas fulfillment companies.
3. Texas has a robust logistics infrastructure. Texas is home to 10,539 miles of freight rail and 313,000+ miles of public roads, giving it one of the country’s largest and most agile land transportation networks. The Dallas-Fort Worth area is close to four major interstates; is close to major hubs of two of the country’s largest rail operators; is close to two major airports; and can send or receive freight to or from the Port of Houston. This robust logistics network makes it easy to get product to and from a Dallas fulfillment warehouse.
Even better from a fulfillment perspective, the region is home to one of FedEx’s major sorting centers. This close proximity enables your fulfillment provider to schedule later pickups with FedEx, which leaves more time to fill orders during the day.
4. Dallas is an important hub for major trucking companies and parcel carriers. More than 600 motor carriers operate out of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, and most major US carriers have terminals in the area, a fact that offers your company a huge range of options when it comes to inbound and outbound transportation. Most important to you, the region is well served by all major parcel carriers. In addition to FedEx, the USPS, UPS and DHL have major facilities in the area.
5. Texas is a business-friendly state. Chief Executive magazine has ranked Texas as the #1 state to do business in for 17 consecutive years, and Forbes recently ranked it #2. This isn’t surprising when you consider that the cost of doing business in Dallas-Fort Worth is 2-7% lower than the national average – and much lower than other major metropolitan areas with a robust logistics infrastructure. This lower operating cost translates to lower overhead for fulfillment companies, and thus lower rates for fulfillment space and services in the Dallas region.
Other business-friendly traits? Companies in Texas pay no corporate income taxes. Also, Texas is a right-to-work state, with one of the country’s lowest rates of unionization.
6. Dallas is where your customers are. At Amware Fulfillment, many of our clients have large customer bases in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, as well as within the 2-day Ground shipping radius described earlier. This is especially true for many of our clients – especially direct selling companies – that sell nutraceuticals , and health and beauty products. For many of these clients, Dallas-Fort Worth ranks in the top 3 markets in terms of where their customers are located. Our Dallas fulfillment centers allow these companies to reach their customers quickly and cost-efficiently.
Here’s an example. If a customer wants priority service, there is a substantial opportunity to cut costs if you have a fulfillment center close to the ship-to address. We’re talking about shipments within zones 1, 2 and 3. For instance, for a shipment from Dallas to Waco, TX that may have gone Express, you can shift the service to home delivery and still meet the 2-day delivery requirement. Making this subtle change in service could provide substantial savings. By shifting inner-zone shipments to a ground service, you can save $7–$20 per package − or 30–60% annually for packages shipping to zones 1–3. (Check out our article for more ideas on how to reduce parcel costs.)
7. Dallas is a great market for eTail or retail start-ups. When it comes to being a business incubator, this is clearly not Dallas’s first rodeo. It gave some of the country’s most successful retailers and direct selling businesses their start, including Michaels, 7-Eleven, The Container Store, and Mary Kay. And several more, including JC Penney, Tuesday Morning, Sally Beauty, and Neiman Marcus, are headquartered there.
8. Dallas has lower warehouse construction costs. Here’s some news your finance folks will appreciate: It’ll cost you 56% less to build a 500,000-square-foot Dallas fulfillment center than it would in a leading logistics market like New York – and 38% and 39% less than it would in Los Angeles and Chicago, respectively (source: Cumming). But, frankly, most growing etailers prefer to stay asset-light and to focus available resources on sales growth. If that’s you, there are plenty of Dallas fulfillment companies that already operate in this market and can service you from existing facilities.
9. Fulfillment companies in Dallas are also a good fit for a multi-DC strategy. Dallas’s central location makes it an ideal city for a single-DC fulfillment strategy. But fulfilling 100% of your orders from one warehouse is risky. That’s why many Amware Fulfillment clients use Dallas is a key hub in a multi-DC strategy that not only reduces their risk but substantially reduces parcel shipping costs.
10. Don’t forget the great weather. Let’s not forget the climate itself. Dallas’s location in the Southern tier of the United States means the temperature is predominantly mild – something that other leading logistics markets in the Northeast, Northwest and Midwest can’t always brag about. In addition to enhancing quality of life, this can drive considerable operational efficiency because there’s less potential for weather-related delays.
Amware Fulfillment has two Dallas fulfillment centers with nearly 200,000 square feet of prime fulfillment space. The short distance between these facilities makes it easy for us to scale operations, as we cross-train associates and can pull people from one operation to another as volumes dictate. With this flexibility, it is common for us to support companies as their volume fluctuates from hundreds to thousands and even tens of thousands of orders per day. Because of our strong operation presence in Dallas, we can start up new fulfillment operations relatively quickly.
Our Dallas facilities are part of our nationwide fulfillment network, which has distribution centers in 6 major US markets. To learn more about our Dallas fulfillment capabilities, contact Amware today.