Breaking Down the First Micro-Fulfillment Center at Wakefern Food
Warehouse Automation Warehouse Automation

Breaking Down the First Micro-Fulfillment Center at Wakefern Food

Wakefern Food Corp. is the 20th largest grocer in the US, with $16.6bn in 2019 retail sales across ShopRite, Price Rite, Gourmet Garage, Fresh Grocer, and Dearborn Market subsidiaries. Last summer, it opened the first standalone robotic grocery fulfillment center in the country inside of a 27,000 square-foot Clifton, NJ warehouse powered by Takeoff Technologies software and Knapp Logistics robots. The center is responsible for picking everything that isn’t deli or produce for Shoprite’s online pick up and delivery for five of its 23 stores in New Jersey as part of its “Shoprite from Home” service.

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US Mall Owners Open Micro-Fulfillment Hubs For E-Commerce Orders
Warehouse Automation Warehouse Automation

US Mall Owners Open Micro-Fulfillment Hubs For E-Commerce Orders

Fillogic has announced plans to open tech-enabled micro-distribution hubs by July 1 at five major retail properties, four of which are in New Jersey and one is in Connecticut. The mall owners are Brookfield Properties, Macerich, and Taubman and the micro distribution centers will be set up in Deptford Mall, Paramus Park, Stamford Town Center and two other regional properties. By the end of 2020, such hubs will have been set up at 10 locations in the tri-state area, according to Fillogic.

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REIT stands to benefit retrofitting retail properties with micro-fulfillment - BTIG analysts
Warehouse Automation Warehouse Automation

REIT stands to benefit retrofitting retail properties with micro-fulfillment - BTIG analysts

Analysts and observers identified online grocery shopping as one of the major long-term changes in social behavior likely to come out of the pandemic, as consumers increasingly rely on pickup and delivery options. BTIG analysts Michael Gorman and James Sullivan said forward-thinking real estate investment trusts stand to benefit by retrofitting their properties with micro-fulfillment centers, or MFCs, to efficiently fulfill online orders.

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How Can Best Buy Offer for Free Something that Amazon Charges For?
Warehouse Automation Warehouse Automation

How Can Best Buy Offer for Free Something that Amazon Charges For?

One of the key initiatives Best Buy undertook as it turned itself around over the past seven years was using its stores to fulfill online orders. By using its stores to ship online orders, Best Buy is taking advantage of over 1,000 mini-distribution centers that are already close to where its customers live. Around 70% of the population lives within 10 miles of a Best Buy store, according to the company.

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Grocery Chains Broaden Automation with Micro-Fulfillment Centers
Warehouse Automation Warehouse Automation

Grocery Chains Broaden Automation with Micro-Fulfillment Centers

The Micro-Fulfillment Centers are designed to provide a lower cost-to-serve by covering the expense of order assembly and last-mile delivery/pickup. Takeoff said the artificial intelligence-enabled robots can assemble grocery orders of up to 60 items in less than five minutes, a fraction of the speed — and cost — of current manual-picking options.

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