E-Commerce Automation for a Post-Pandemic World

E-commerce demand has always been harder to predict than other retail channels and the global pandemic intensified that unpredictability. Not only did many retailers see a dramatic shift from in-store to online sales in the early days of the pandemic, those shifts in behavior appear to have turbocharged longer-term e-commerce growth.

According to EY consumer research, a year after the pandemic hit consumers were still adapting their behaviors. Now, more than two years out, there is still uncertainty about the growth trajectory of e-commerce. The question isn’t whether the sector will continue to grow, but how fast.

With some warehouses already stretched to the breaking point, retailers face the challenge of making fundamental changes to fulfillment operations or failing to keep pace with customer expectations and creating negative brand perceptions that ripple across all channels.

Traditional warehouse automation solutions weren’t designed to address the specific challenges of e-commerce. Instead of facilitating efficient response to growth in inventory or throughput, they relied on fixed systems that made it more difficult to respond to change. Fortunately, the new generation of warehouse automation solutions deliver the speed, flexibility and efficiency required to prosper in the post-pandemic retail environment.