Analyst study: warehousing sector poised for 5% growth up to 2027

Updated research from Interact Analysis shows that there will be 214,000 warehouses of larger than 50,000 square feet globally by 2027, up from 163,000 in 2021. The research firm’s Warehouse Building Stock Database tracks and aggregates a myriad of publicly available datasets and uses a model-based approach to fill in the blanks to provide an up-to-date and detailed analysis of all sectors of the warehousing market.

A total of 50,000 extra warehouses of greater than 50,000 ft2 are projected to be added to the global warehouse stock between 2022 and 2027. By that year, 20% of all warehouses will be fulfillment centers, largely as a result of the rise in e-commerce. The research also shows a very tight positive correlation between labor costs and rates of automation – the more expensive the labor cost, the greater the automation spend. Currently, 3PL companies and general merchandise vendors account for the lion share of global warehouses, but the food and beverage and durable manufacturing sectors are strong contenders.

Rueben Scriven, Senior Analyst at Interact Analysis commented, “Whilst distribution centers currently make up the greatest share of the warehousing sector, over the next five years direct to consumer fulfillment centers are an area of the market which will enjoy significant growth. Currently they account for only 11% of warehousing facilities but by 2027 this will rise to 18% as e-commerce continues to flourish.

“The other standout finding was the strength of the positive correlation between labor costs and automation spending,” Scriven continued. “While such a correlation was only to be expected, its tightness surprised us. In the next quarterly update to our research, we will further investigate this and analyze labor by job role and also by warehouse operation type.”