A micro-fulfillment centre set to open in the Parksville Industrial Park will help bridge the gap between e-commerce and local small business retail. (Freepik)

By Alex Rawnsley

SHOP LOCAL

Micro-fulfillment centre opening to help local small business navigate e-commerce

Oct 4, 2021 | 12:03 PM

PARKSVILLE — A new fulfillment centre will bridge the gulf for small business between bricks and mortar retail and e-commerce.

Owned and operated by the Parksville and District Chamber of Commerce, the nearly 20,000 square foot warehouse will offer storage and shipping services for local businesses selling their products online.

Chamber CEO Kim Burden told NanaimoNewsNOW around 200 north and central Island businesses are signed up to launch with the facility at the Parksville Industrial Park on Friday, Oct. 15.

“What we call ‘the last mile’ has been a challenge for the business we’ve talked to so in an effort to assist with that, we’ve looked at how we can fulfill these orders.”

The collective model is expected to slash shipping costs for member businesses.

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The facility receives orders from participating businesses then picks, packs and ships or delivers the product to its destination. It means local business can focus on selling and customer experience, instead of the back end administration.

Local businesses will pay based on the volume of storage they need at the facility and the number of packages shipped.

The move into the Parksville Industrial Park is a temporary detour to prove the idea, ahead of a planned move to a purpose-built facility on Snaw-Naw-As land over the next few years.

“We want to test our model and make sure we get all the kinks out before we move into the big facility,” Burden said. “There’s a lot of moving parts here with software, trucks, people picking and packing and we want to make sure we get it absolutely correct.”

The centre was awarded a $620,000 provincial grant in early 2021 to help get the project off the ground and into a warehouse.

Burden said the idea for the warehouse business came during the early days of the pandemic when many retail outlets were shut down.

Many pivoted to selling online, but couldn’t handle the additional steps required to get product into customer’s hands.

“We’ve always focused on how do we grow the local business community, how do we help businesses with succession plans and how do we make sure businesses on Vancouver Island work in the correct environment to be successful.”

More information on the facility is available through the Parksville Chamber of Commerce.

Join the conversation. Submit your letter to NanaimoNewsNOW and be included on The Water Cooler, our letters to the editor feature.

alex.rawnsley@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley