SSI Schaefer to fulfil e-commerce demand for health foods and supplements retailer

SSI Schaefer to fulfil e-commerce demand for health foods and supplements retailer

NBTY Europe has awarded SSI Schaefer a contract to provide an automated system to revolutionise its capabilities in the e-commerce market.

Currently breaking into the e-commerce channel, NBTY Europe, which is the parent company of the retail brands Holland & Barrett Holland, GNC UK, Nature’s Way Ireland and De Tuinen Holland, has recently experienced significant growth in this area.

Automating manual warehouse processes

Currently serving its High Street and online subsidiaries using a manual system within their central distribution centre (DC) in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the pressure to fulfil daily demand is growing.

To effectively serve its Holland & Barrett online customers, NBTY is installing an automated system into their DC with the help of the automated materials handling equipment and integrated storage systems provider – to support its continuous online product offers.

As a result, large order numbers are becoming the norm and outsourcing additional temporary labour at the risk of being unable to keep up with demand, is not a sustainable part of NBTY's strategic e-commerce business plan.

Scaling to meet demand

Mark Kendrick, an NBTY Europe representative, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with SSI Schaefer – the new automated system, when complete, will provide us with a faster, more efficient and accurate operation in meeting our online requirements. The system also offers us a scalable solution to our e-commerce enterprise, enabling us to choose the level of automation to compliment the current level of demand.”

Once up and running, the new automated system is being designed to operate at five to six times the current output of the manual operation, removing the risk of meeting demand fulfilment.

The company will also remove the need for temporary labour and increase picking accuracy, which will in turn increase customer service levels.