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Retail Chain Woolworths Improves In-Store Fulfillment with Körber Supply Chain

Leading South African retailer invests in solution to support in-store fulfilment for online orders

Körber Supply Chain, a global provider of supply chain solutions, announced today that Woolworths Proprietary Limitedthe operating entity of Woolworths Holdings Limited, a leading Southern Hemisphere retail group headquartered in South Africa, has selected Körber Supply Chain Retail Advantage to improve picking accuracy and efficiency across its food business’ stores, which act as online fulfilment centres. This system will ensure a consistent brand experience across all channels and provide “personal shoppers” easy access to critical information, providing a painless experience for online customers.

Woolworths Holdings Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, has always embraced dynamic store policies that set it apart from competitors. Woolworths’ product offerings include fresh produce (ambient and perishable), prepared food, frozen food and other groceries under private label and popular international brands. The retailer also sells clothing, beauty products, home goods and general merchandise.

Woolworths selected Körber Supply Chain’s in-store fulfilment solution as part of an initiative to better serve an increasing number of customers ordering products online. The retailer previously used a manual, paper-based system that was inefficient. Staging was also difficult due to the limited space available to sort items into the proper containers.

The retailer sought a flexible solution that could adapt to its ever-changing business requirements from a partner who understood Woolworths’ evolving business environment. Körber Supply Chain Retail Advantage designs the best pick path for personal shoppers based on the store layout and offers real-time performance reporting. Woolworths also invested in new trolleys, totes and crates as well as wearable rugged device scanners to complement this software.

“Körber Supply Chain Retail Advantage will help us standardise processes, increase productivity and improve pick accuracy,” said Zoey Rylands, Woolworths Head of Selling Operations. “The increased efficiency will enable us to scale more rapidly across our stores as our ecommerce operations keep growing. The solution includes valuable reporting tools that will deliver the key metrics management needs to make informed decisions.”

The system will be implemented within the existing online footprint of 30 stores.

“This in-store fulfilment system will drive savings for Woolworths because it minimises picking errors and optimises labour efficiency,” Körber Supply Chain Senior Vice President of International Sales David Houser said. “It is more important than ever before to have the right technology, because retailers need the ability to create unique business processes to meet changing requirements. This investment empowers Woolworths to control its own omnichannel destiny.”

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