Boozt expands world's largest AutoStore™

Boozt is the largest online department store in the Nordics. Headquartered in Malmö, Sweden, the company first installed AutoStore in 2017 at their central warehouse in Ängelholm. Sales volumes have steadily increased. To keep pace with customer demands, the company made a series of expansions to what remains the most extensive AutoStore system in the world.

Small beginnings

Before becoming the Nordic region’s leading e-commerce fashion and lifestyle company, Boozt was a small startup that began as BZT Fashion AB in 2007. By 2011, it had 35 employees operating from an apartment building in Malmö.

With the appointment of CEA Hermann Haraldsson, the company refocused its strategy and started running an in-house, multi-brand e-commerce store. Boozt now sells over 400,000 products a month, offering its clients over 700 mid-to-premium fashion and lifestyle brands, around 250 home brands, and 260 beauty brands. In 2017, the company was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and by 2020 it achieved global net sales of over $60 million.

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The decision to automate

In 2017, Boozt decided to build its state-of-the-art AutoStore warehouse empowered by Element Logic. Since then, the company has undertaken four system expansions to keep pace with heavy customer demands. After the 2018 expansion, it first gained the title of the largest AutoStore in the world with a total of 250 Robots and 250,000 Bins.

The following year, Boozt increased the system to 500+ Robots and over 500,000 Bins, and at same time became one of the first companies to adopt the AutoStore B1 Robot.

The new expansion

As with other retailers across the globe, the Covid pandemic greatly increased Boozt’s sales volumes, spurring a decision to undertake yet another major expansion of its AutoStore system in Ängelholm.

Completed in time for the 2022 holiday season, the project has maintained Boozt’s top spot among global AutoStore users.

“We are excited to take our dedication to automation and development to the next level in cooperation with Element Logic and AutoStore,” said Sven Thiessen, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Boozt.

What the system looks like

The Boozt AutoStore system empowered by Element Logic, is indeed impressive:

• 1,150 Robots move over the surface of this Grid (1,130 R5s and 20 B1s).
• 1 million+ Bins store a vast array of merchandise.
• 300 Ports enable picking and replenishing of goods (256 CarouselPorts, 42 ConveyorPorts, 2 RelayPorts).
• The fastest time in which an order was ready for distribution after being received was 49 seconds.
• Boozt uses AutoStore Router software, released in 2020, to provide increased Robot productivity.

The Robots move over the Grid at a speed of about 3 meters (9.8 feet) per second and use long grippers to pull up the requested Bins from below at a rate of 1.6m (5.2 feet) per second.

The system places Bins containing goods not required for a particular order in open cells nearby. Once a Robot has retrieved the right Bin, another Robot moves the unneeded Bins back to their original location on the Grid. Finally, the selected Bin is delivered to a workstation located along the edge of the Grid, where an operator receives it and completes the order.

Around-the-clock support

Although it concentrates on customers in Nordic countries, Boozt delivers to 24 European countries – a mammoth task that would be nearly impossible without an automated order fulfillment system working 24/7, even in complete darkness.

Before the installation of the AutoStore warehouse automation system, the picking process was entirely manual, Thiessen said.

“AutoStore has many advantages, such as speed, reliability, and utilization of warehouse footprint,” said Thiessen.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about cost per transaction.”

Reaping the benefits

Thiessen lists the benefits the company has enjoyed since installing the AutoStore:

• The Robots work 24/7, so there’s no warehouse downtime.
• Workflow has improved, as has customer satisfaction and delivery times.
• The system can be expanded on demand without shutting down operations.
• Boozt experiences a 99.7% system uptime.

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