i. Consolidation - The foremost function of a warehouse is to pool goods or raw materials from different plants and dispatch them, at the same time, to different customers in one shipment.
ii. Protection of goods - Warehouses store the goods or materials in bulk and thus help in protecting them from any kind of damage such as due to wind, dust or insects.
iii. Stockpiling - Warehouses facilitate the storage of goods and raw materials that are not required for immediate sale or manufacturing.
iv. Offering value - added services - Warehouses offer various value-added services to producers such as the grading, packaging and labelling of goods.
v. Financing - The owner of the goods and raw materials stored in a warehouse can use the warehouse receipt as a security against which he/she can borrow money from banks or other financial institutions.