(AutoStore®, Nedre Vats, Norway / February 10, 2020) – Managing retail eCommerce fulfillment from regional distribution centers cannot accommodate today's customized needs of consumers, nor can it sustain cost efficiency. Same-day delivery and immediate local-store pick-up are no longer perks for eCommerce consumers, they are expectations. Consumers are demanding more choices, and are willing to change brand allegiance to get better value and service. To remain competitive, every step in the eCommerce in-store fulfillment process must be handled accurately, efficiently and quickly to maintain a positive customer experience.
To meet his challenge, AutoStore has redefined the eCommerce in-store customer experience with a revolutionary micro-fulfillment solution, which will be officially released worldwide at MODEX 2020.
Modular, Scalable and Flexible
Perfectly designed for retail in-store micro-fulfillment, AutoStore's modular, highly-automated eCommerce in-store fulfillment solution is compact enough to be placed almost anywhere in-store, and equipped to fulfill online retail orders fast and efficiently. It can operate in the center of a store, in a backroom of a store, in a dark store, or it can be located in a small corner of a warehouse.
"AutoStore's micro-fulfillment solution delivers the flexibility and scalability needed for streamlining automated online retail fulfillment, which is absolutely critical to accommodate increasingly higher numbers of SKUs and seasonal spikes in ordering," said Karl Johan Lier, CEO and President of AutoStore.
"This solution gives retailers the flexibility to make more targeted decisions about where they believe automated eCommerce in-store fulfillment will be most beneficial," added Lier.
The tipping point for micro-fulfillment centers is being able to store more product in the same space, regardless of the footprint available or where the demand is located.
AutoStore provides the highest density of cubic space utilization of any automated storage and pick system. Modular in design, its micro-fulfillment solution can easily be configured to fit different store ceiling heights and obstacles.
Click-and-Collect 24/7 –
Curbside and Last-Mile Delivery
The efficient design and functionality of AutoStore's eCommerce micro-fulfillment pick-up points play a critical role in maintaining high-volume throughput for output workstations. Associates can consolidate eCommerce orders in less than 10 minutes, and put them back in the system for customers to collect at any time. And orders can be retrieved from the system in just a few minutes. Customers can decide their preferred option to collect pre-picked orders, whether in-store, curb-side or home delivery.
Ultra-Streamlined Robotics
AutoStore consists of a three-dimensional aluminum grid system of self-supporting bins that are moved to pick stations by independently-operating robots, providing swift and accurate movement of orders.
Each robot has two sets of wheels that enable it to move along perpendicular axes. This makes it possible for all robots to reach any position, and any bin on the grid independently – virtually eliminating the possibility of single-point system failure, providing near 100 percent system availability.
From Online to In-Store
Being able to complete a larger portion of the customer’s order with automation is the key to keeping footprint, and manpower or labor, lean and efficient while being extremely fast.
Additionally, the more skus offered online increases choices for customers, and generates a larger end-customer order. The result is more gross profit available for the retailer, which helps offset the potential delivery/logistics cost if the customer choses delivery instead of pickup.
"eCommerce fulfillment presents a significant challenge for retail stores," continued Lier. "AutoStore's technology and extensive use-case experience is now being leveraged for extremely efficient micro-fulfillment of online orders in-store. Essentially, we have redefined the eCommerce in-store customer experience."
Confirm Attendance
Confirm now to attend this ground-breaking MODEX 2020 worldwide micro-fulfillment release.
Tuesday, March 10th
1:00 p.m.
AutoStore's booth #8232
About AutoStore
AutoStore, founded in 1996, is a robot technology company that invented, and continues to pioneer, Cube Storage Automation – the densest product/inventory storage solution in existence. The company’s focus is to marry software and hardware with human abilities to create the future of warehousing. AutoStore is global, with more than 300 systems installed in 28 countries over a wide range of industries. All sales are designed, installed and serviced by a network of qualified system integrators – which AutoStore calls ‘partners’. The company’s headquarters is in Nedre Vats, Norway, with offices in the U.S., UK, Germany and France.