Bulbs.com, a Worcester, Mass., online retailer of light bulbs and fixtures, has seen its revenue grow by 50 percent annually for the past three years. It wanted to offer two-day shipping on its most popular products to its growing customer base, but it faced a conundrum: Shipping from its New England warehouse cost too much, yet renting a full warehouse in a more central location could result in acres of wasted space.

The company turned to DHL, which allows Bulbs.com to rent space - only as much as it needs in a given month - in a warehouse in Wilmington, Ohio. "The biggest factor we like is that it's flexible and scalable," says Mike Connors, vice president of sales and marketing for Bulbs.com. "With a phone call we can double, triple, or quadruple how much inventory goes in there, so cost scales along with the need. If we had purchased or rented a facility in Ohio a few years ago, we would have had to pay for empty space or move every couple of years." -Julie Sloane