How Online Shopping Is Driving Demand For Warehouses And Distribution Centres

Over the last decade, online shopping warehouse demand has transformed the retail landscape, driving businesses to rethink storage and fulfilment strategies. What began as a convenient alternative to in-store shopping is now the default purchasing method for millions across the UK. This digital shift has forced many traditional, store-based businesses to reassess how they operate, not just in terms of sales, but across logistics, storage, delivery, and fulfilment.

As demand for speed, flexibility and convenience grows, businesses are turning to warehouses and distribution centres to power their online operations. For many, finding the right commercial space has become essential to staying competitive.

The Rise Of Online Shopping

Online shopping is no longer a secondary sales channel. With soaring ecommerce warehouse demand, it has become the primary driver of UK retail growth. Data shows that the value of online retail sales in the UK reached a record-breaking £127bn in 2024, with 89% of people in the UK having made an online purchase in the last year.

How Online Shopping Has Impacted Businesses

Key challenges of the surge of online shopping on businesses include:

• Stockholding: Businesses need space to hold and manage fast-moving stock, often across multiple product lines.
• Fulfilment: Packing, labelling and dispatching orders quickly and accurately.
• Returns processing: Handling the growing volume of customer returns.
• Last-mile delivery: Ensuring products arrive at customers’ doors quickly and cost-effectively.

The rise in online sales has forced businesses to rethink how supply chain management works in different industries, adapting logistics, stockholding, and fulfilment across the board. From high-street retailers launching click-and-collect, to ecommerce start-ups fulfilling hundreds of daily orders from a laptop and warehouse, logistics has become a core function of the modern-day business.

Traditional retail spaces often aren’t suited to this kind of high-volume logistical work. Businesses need industrial and flexible units with better access, higher ceilings, storage facilities and dedicated loading areas, which are all features that warehouse and distribution centres offer.

Why Warehouse Space Is In Demand

The growth of online retail has created surging warehouse demand and intensified the need for warehouse space for ecommerce to support fulfilment, logistics and scalable operations. This is particularly true in and around cities, where businesses want to stay close to customers, couriers and key suppliers.

Unlike retail stores, ecommerce operations can’t rely on a single, fixed inventory. Instead, they must adapt to fast-changing trends, respond to seasonality, and fulfil hundreds or even thousands of small individual orders every day. That means they require more space, more flexibility, and better integration with delivery networks.

A recent report recorded an 11.3% rise in overall logistics space demand nationwide in late 2024, indicating sustained appetite for warehouse space across the UK.

A business therefore needs somewhere suitable to store, package and distribute products. That’s where The Arch Company comes in. With central locations, adaptable layouts and ready-to-use commercial units, our railway arch workspaces provide the perfect base for ecommerce and logistics-focused businesses to flourish and succeed.

Location Shouldn’t Limit

For ecommerce businesses, location is hugely important. Your warehouse doesn’t just need to store stock, it also needs to support operations, enable deliveries and provide access for staff, suppliers, couriers, clients and customers.

Our railway arches offer a rare combination that’s tough to find in most urban industrial spaces. sit right beneath some of the UK’s busiest transport lines. With easy access to road and rail, they allow for same-day restocks, quicker dispatch, and reliable courier pickups. That means less time wasted in traffic, or awkwardly manoeuvring large distribution tracks up to your business, and more time focusing on fulfilment. Also, unlike out-of-town warehouses, these locations keep you close to the action, within reach of major customer bases, business districts, and logistics networks.

The Need for Speed

In the age of Amazon Prime and next-day deliveries, customers expect speed as standard. According to latest figures:

• 55% of shoppers say they’d pay extra for same-day delivery.
• 45% are happy to pay for next-day options.
• 68% actively seek shorter delivery windows at checkout.

This puts immense pressure on businesses to shorten delivery times, especially when it comes to last mile delivery, the final step in the logistics process, where delays and costs are highest. Traditional warehouses located far outside cities simply can’t compete when it comes to urban delivery efficiency.

By contrast, businesses based in city-centre industrial units, like The Arch Company’s railway arches, can:

• Cut down delivery timeframes by dispatching directly from city bases.
• Work more efficiently with local courier networks and distribution points.
• Respond faster to same-day and urgent order requests.

Speed isn’t just a luxury, it’s a competitive advantage that can see your business thrive where others fail. Whether you’re running a fulfillment-based ecommerce store, a DTC food brand or a logistics start-up, faster operations drive happier customers and more repeat orders.

A Space To Grow And Adapt

One of the biggest challenges for online-focused businesses is scaling, especially when growth comes in unpredictable waves. Product launches that go viral, a seasonal peak like Christmas, or a sudden jump in demand due to a marketing push can all put businesses in need of flexible spaces that can grow and adapt with them.

Traditional leases or rigid industrial sites can quickly become a bottleneck thanks to fixed, long-term contracts, single-use layouts, remote locations and poor accessibility. But with adaptable spaces like those offered by The Arch Company, businesses can:

• Scale up or down without major disruption.
• Use space for different functions (e.g. stock management, fulfilment, office work).
• Manage short-term surges in demand with minimal overheads.

This flexibility in warehouse space for ecommerce is key for modern businesses, particularly for SMEs who may not have the capital to commit to large-scale facilities. Having a space that supports growth and flexibility means businesses can evolve without being held back and reflects exactly how supply chain management works in different industries that require quick scale.

Why Railway Arches Are Ideal for SMEs

• Central locations in key cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol.
• Adaptable layouts that support storage, dispatch, office use and hybrid operations.
• High ceilings and wide access points is vital for loading, shelving and fulfilment.
• Proximity to major road and rail links, reducing delivery times and transport costs.
• Flexible lease terms that work for start-ups, growing SMEs and established logistics providers alike.

The Arch Company’s spaces are uniquely suited to the needs of growing ecommerce and logistics businesses. Our railway arches across the UK offer distinct benefits over traditional industrial warehouse and storage units, giving businesses the chance to stay close to customers, while benefiting from the infrastructure they need to succeed in an online-first world.

Ready to thrive? Search for your perfect commercial space here.

Check out our related blog: The Importance Of Site Selection And Location For Business Success