Coles (COL.AX) customers in Melbourne and Sydney will soon notice that home deliveries are faster, thanks to a new $400 million dark supermarket.
The retail chain opened a new facility to improve its online grocery shopping experience. Although Coles has had a dark store in inner-city Melbourne since 2016, this new one is the first of its kind in Australia.
Usually, online orders are packed and sent off from the closest Coles supermarket where the customer placed the order. However, the new Customer Fulfillment Center (CFC) in Truganina, Victoria, will now be used. This facility is said to be four times the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Inside the Coles new dark supermarket
Inside this mega warehouse, speed is of the utmost importance. 700 robots and employees work together to improve the picking and packing process.
Why use robots? The warehouse’s surface area is 87,000 square meters, making it ideal for a robot to quickly source items covering the large floor area.
Robots will be tasked with searching, picking, and packing about 50 items in less than five minutes. Remember, speed is the priority here. The facility is expected to process 10,000 orders per day.
Benefits of a dark supermarket
The most obvious benefit of having a dark supermarket is the speedy delivery. But there are other benefits, too.
- More affordable shipping costs.
- Better warehouse efficiency.
- Flexibility.
- Using space more efficiently.
- Improved inventory.
- Better for sustainability.
Often, shoppers find that items are not available for online delivery due to the lack of stock later in the day or week. However, with a dark supermarket, this won’t be the problem. More items will be available for customers to order.
CEO Leah Weckert says this is a “major step change” for Coles. They hope to offer more flexible delivery options and improve their freshness.
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Mia is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has more than 14 years of experience in mainstream media. She's covered many historic moments that happened in Africa and internationally. She has a strong focus on human interest stories, to bring her readers and viewers closer to the topics at hand.
