Emerging General Merchandise Warehousing Opportunities

The general merchandise sector is thriving, driven by urbanization, rising incomes, and evolving consumer lifestyles, along with the convenience and value they seek. This trend is bolstered by e-Commerce, which offers a broad selection of products. Despite the digital age, traditional brick-and-mortar stores remain popular, with a majority of consumers preferring in-store shopping and additional conveniences like delivery and curbside pickup.

This blend of traditional and modern preferences creates complexity for general merchandisers, especially in warehouses where they manage omnichannel fulfillment amidst labor shortages and supply chain challenges. Meeting customer expectations for diverse products, faster shipping, and order accuracy adds pressure. However, emerging warehousing opportunities offer solutions to navigate these challenges and thrive in this evolving market.

Key General Merchandise Warehousing Opportunities

Transformative Robotic Automation 

Robotic automation is transforming the warehouse operations of several of the world’s biggest general merchandise brands. Until recently, traditional automation methods such as mini-loads or shuttle systems stood out as the primary alternatives to manual picking. However, these systems fall short in meeting modern needs due to their reliance on heavy, static machinery with multiple points of failure.

In contrast, goods-to-person systems like the Exotec Skypod^® system employ lightweight and elegant robotics, providing an optimal mix of performance and flexibility to adapt seamlessly to dynamic consumer demand and market challenges. Skypod system robots autonomously navigate goods between high-density storage racks and ergonomic picking stations. This innovative approach improves order accuracy and boosts throughput by up to 5X compared to manual operations, with robots retrieving any item in the system within two minutes for rapid response to urgent order requests across distribution channels. 

By separating storage from throughput, the Skypod system allows independent scaling of both so businesses can expand precisely as needed without incurring unnecessary costs for excess equipment. The modular system fits the broadest range of throughput, storage, and industry requirements. Whether adding an e-commerce channel or changing the number and structure of SKUs, the system can meet today’s needs and quickly change as business models evolve over time.

Streamlining Store Replenishment and e-Commerce

Integrating store replenishment and e-Commerce order fulfillment operations to a single system, rather than managing multiple systems, poses a significant challenge. Managing the complexities of omnichannel inventory priorities, fluctuating order volumes, and varying fulfillment speeds within a unified system is a daunting task. However, the successful integration of these channels brings substantial benefits and is now achievable through innovative robotics solutions like the Skypod system.

The Skypod system seamlessly merges these operations by facilitating the storage of goods at both case and piece levels, simplifying complexity through centralized inventory management. This streamlining of operations results in substantial long-term cost savings including the following: 

• Reduced Manual Labor Requirements: This consolidation decreases labor demands for the most physically intensive and repetitive tasks involved in order fulfillment. Moreover, the streamlined efficiency of the unified system translates into reduced in-store labor requirements. It achieves this by streamlining inventory organization and deliveries according to store layouts and merchandise categories.
• Reduced Holding Costs: The Skypod system simplifies omnichannel complexities by centralizing inventory. This eliminates expenses related to scattered stock and enhances visibility for a more strategic and efficient approach to restocking.
• Lower Transportation Costs: Sending a wider variety of products in the same space reduces the need for unnecessary trips, ultimately cutting down transportation costs.

Replenishing Stores at the Piece Level 

Amid ever-expanding arrays of SKUs, diverse supplier lead times, and varying demands across brick-and-mortar networks, general merchandise brands are reassessing their traditional store replenishment approaches. They are reconsidering conventional top-down replenishment strategies, often involving the shipment of full cases to storefront locations.

Recognizing the need for innovation, general merchandise operators are increasingly turning to a bottom-up inventory approach, making replenishment decisions at the store level. The shift to fulfilling inventory with a precise mix of pieces and cases, as opposed to traditional case replenishment, is becoming pivotal for the success of warehouse operations.

Yet, manually fulfilling storefronts at the piece level remains a labor-intensive and costly endeavor. The automation of this process has faced challenges due to inflexible traditional technology and uncertain forecasts. However, the Skypod system streamlines the shipment of both full cases and pieces from warehouses to stores. This provides businesses with the following advantages. 

• Drive Sales: Expand sales opportunities by offering a diverse selection of merchandise at stores
• Better deploy capital: Strategically allocate inventory to high-demand locations
• Drive Customer Loyalty: Maximize repeat business by ensuring that customers can always find the items they are looking for

Streamline Your Omnichannel Fulfillment

Still utilizing separate systems for omnichannel fulfillment? Streamline your operations with Exotec to increase performance, reduce operational costs, and seamlessly adapt to an unpredictable future. Contact a member of our team to discuss how.