AutoStore Powers Footshop's Sneaker Fulfillment

Footshop is one of Europe's leading retailers of premium sneakers, footwear, and streetwear fashion. Founded in Prague, the company serves customers across numerous European markets and keeps expanding its product range and reach through innovative retail and e-commerce operations.

As Footshop scaled its e-commerce business and broadened its product portfolio, it needed a logistics operation that could keep pace with growth, lift productivity, and reduce its reliance on manual handling. To meet that need, Footshop rebuilt fulfillment around AutoStore, empowered by AutoStore partner Kardex. It was Footshop's first major warehouse automation project, delivered inside a fully operational warehouse with zero disruption to daily business.

The Challenge

Footshop's growth was the driver. As online demand climbed and the catalogue expanded into thousands of footwear SKUs, the retailer needed a fulfillment operation that could scale with the business, raise productivity, and ease the burden of manual handling on its team. Because this was Footshop's first major automation project, the solution also had to be straightforward to adopt, with training and knowledge transfer built in.

Adding to the complexity, the new system had to go into a warehouse that never stopped running. This was a brownfield installation that could not interrupt daily operations, so success depended on careful planning and close collaboration between the Footshop and Kardex teams, from commissioning and testing through to go-live.

"I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who supported this project. It was a pleasure to work with such a professional, dedicated, and supportive team. I am proud to be part of this success and look forward to many more projects together."

— Marek Stefan, Project Manager, Kardex

The Benefits of the AutoStore System

AutoStore stores goods in dedicated containers called Bins, stacked directly on top of one another in a compact Grid that needs no aisles. For Footshop, that translates into far higher storage density—52,600 Bins hold thousands of footwear SKUs in a fraction of the floor space conventional shelving would require, with each Bin carrying up to eight shoe boxes. And because capacity grows simply by extending the Grid and adding Bins or Robots, the system gives Footshop a scalable platform it can expand into.

Fulfillment is faster and more efficient, too. Instead of staff walking the warehouse to locate stock, Robots bring the required Bins directly to the operator. At the Port, orders are picked from a single, ergonomic position—goods-to-person picking that speeds up order fulfillment, improves inventory accessibility, and reduces the manual handling Footshop set out to minimize, supporting the team rather than adding to its workload.

To keep accuracy high across thousands of similar-looking boxes, Kardex tailored the solution with an integrated Picking Assistant, a Shoebox Extension feature suited to footwear, and Cognex machine vision. Together they help operators pick the right item quickly and confidently.

How the System Works

The AutoStore Grid is a compact structure that stores Bins stacked directly on top of one another, with no aisles wasting space. Footshop's installation holds 52,600 Bins and is served by 24 R5+™ Robots that travel across the top of the Grid. When an order comes in, the Robots lift the Bins holding the required items and deliver them to a Port—goods-to-person picking that removes the need to walk and search.

Footshop's operation uses two Port types. Two CarouselPort™ workstations keep Bins cycling to the operator for fast, ergonomic picking. Two ConveyorPort™ workstations handle higher-volume flows. An integrated Picking Assistant and Cognex machine vision guide operators to the correct shoe box, while a Shoebox Extension feature adapts the system to footwear handling.

The entire system was commissioned and tested in stages inside Footshop's live warehouse, so daily operations continued uninterrupted through to go-live—proof that AutoStore can be introduced into a busy, space-constrained facility without pausing the business.

System Overview

Project Specifications:

• Installation type: Brownfield—installed within a fully operational warehouse with zero disruption to daily operations
• Robots: 24 R5+ Robots
• Workstations (Ports): 2 CarouselPorts, 2 ConveyorPorts
• Bins: 52,600 Bins (425 mm), each holding up to eight shoe boxes
• Units / SKUs: Thousands of footwear SKUs
• Integrated technology/automation: Integrated Picking Assistant, Shoebox Extension feature, and Cognex machine vision (empowered by Kardex)
• Partner: Empowered by Kardex

Conclusion

With AutoStore now live, Footshop has turned its warehouse into a fast, high-density, and scalable fulfillment operation—one built to support continued growth while maintaining high service levels across Europe. The project marks an important milestone for the retailer and strengthens the presence of AutoStore technology in the Czech market. Delivered in close collaboration with AutoStore partner Kardex, it gives Footshop a platform ready to keep pace with whatever comes next.