Health foods retailer Holland & Barrett has opened a new fulfilment centre for ecommerce orders in 48 hours.
The site at Crick Northants will allow the company to process thousands of orders per day. The site was set up after Holland & Barrett saw its volume of online orders double on a daily basis.
The retailer used DHL’s “Pop Up” solution, which is designed to support retailers that are dealing with the shift to online shopping. It works on a pay-as-you-go model and can handle up to 10,000 orders per day, with DHL saying that it follows Public Health England’s social distancing guidelines.
As well as the new pop-up fulfilment centre, Holland & Barrett has also begun fulfilling orders from its stores.
Gavin Chappell, group supply chain and logistics director at Holland and Barrett said: “In these unprecedented times with many customers confined to home, it’s vital that we can continue serving them.
“As an essential retailer, we play an important role in helping keep the country nourished and healthy, especially for customers with specific health issues. In collaboration with DHL, we were able to quickly set up a solution which has helped us get orders into the hands of customers and gives us peace of mind that we can manage ongoing online demand while maintaining the level of service our customers expect from us.”
Martin Willmor, MD Specialist Services, DHL Supply Chain added: “Retail and consumer brands have had to make an overnight switch to a new way of serving customers.
“For many, especially those who have had to create an ecommerce proposition from scratch, this has been a steep learning curve, but even those with established ecomm operations have found it challenging to meet online demand and keep their customer service promises.
“Our hope is that this service supports the retail and FMCG industries through the immediate crisis and gives them a route to recovery.”
