Breakfast cereal.
Bathmats.
Baseballs.
Bicycles.
Bottled water.
By the way we live our lives today, it would be easy to never think about how we get the bunches of items that we use everyday. For most of us, we simply go online to order what we want, or go to our favorite grocery store or retail center to purchase what we need. It is a very rare experience, in fact, when we cannot get our hands on what it is that we want.
For the most part, we see full shelves, without ever having to be concerned about the backup inventory. We see our favorite brand of ketchup, without ever wondering about rail transportation. And, we enjoy fresh produce, without knowledge of logistics.
At a whole other level, however, our nation operates on a complicated and closely scheduled commercial warehousing system that enables retailers of all kinds to have the goods that they sell to the consumer. From business owners and managers to commercial leases and determining warehouse space needs, an entire industry works behind the scenes to facilitate the nation’s economy.
Commercial warehousing plays perhaps one of the most important parts in the supply chain and logistics processes that are required to make sure that the needed items are available when needed. Whether you are a retailer considering renting a warehouse for the temporary storage of seasonal items or a commercial warehousing expert who schedules the distribution of rolling inventories for a permanent site, it is easy to understand that leasing retail space and securing manufacturing warehouse space are key components to the extensive distribution and supply chains in our country.
Consider some of these statistics:

• The amount of occupied distribution and warehouse space has increased by 86.2% since the year 2000.
• Creating tremendous opportunities for both developers and owners of distribution and warehouse space, E-commerce is expected to grow at a compounded annual average rate of 10% over the next five years.
• 166,907 men and women in America work in the storage and warehouse leasing industry.

Although you will likely continue to buy the breakfast cereal, the bathmats, the baseballs, the bicycles, and the bottled water without concern for how those items made their way to the consumer, it is difficult to completely ignore the supply chain and distribution industry behind these products.