OSLO, Norway–(BUSINESS WIRE)–StrongPoint ASA, a leader in grocery retail technology, announces it has signed a partnership agreement to become a Nordic and Baltic regional distributor of AutoStore’s innovative fulfilment solutions for retailers. AutoStore’s cubic storage solutions use pioneering robotic and software technology to redefine how warehouses store goods and retrieve items for delivery, enabling retailers to scale efficiently.
“We are proud to partner with AutoStore and bring their micro-fulfillment solutions to more grocery retailers. That StrongPoint has been chosen as a partner is a testament to our grocery retail expertise, world-class e-commerce solutions and deep and long-standing customer relationships. We now provide a full end-to-end grocery e-commerce offer with our own world-class proprietary technologies and the world’s leading supplier of micro-fulfillment solutions,” said StrongPoint CEO Jacob Tveraabak.
“AutoStore is delighted to partner with StrongPoint, who so clearly sees the potential in micro fulfillment. Together, we are well positioned to deliver on the ongoing transformative phase for the Nordic and Baltic markets,” said CEO of AutoStore, Karl Johan Lier.
AutoStore currently has a global blue-chip customer base with more than 600 installations and 20,000 robots across 35 countries. Its automated storage and retrieval systems, coupled with its proprietary software, provide customers with high throughput, enhanced configurability and high levels of flexibility to serve the increasing demands of today’s supply chains. AutoStore’s innovative cubic design allows customers to either store four times the inventory in the same space, or all of their existing inventory in 25% of the space. AutoStore’s solutions thus “redefine space”.
The partnership is focused on the grocery retail sector where automation through micro-fulfillment, often known as MFCs, is today a part of grocery retailers’ long-term e-commerce strategy.
Grocery retailers face unique profitability challenges while fulfilling e-commerce orders due to the complexity and variety of orders, labour-intensive nature of the industry and fast changing consumer habits. Automation is an issue high on the agenda for grocery retailers looking to maximise efficiency for their online offer and add additional capacity to their existing in-store or dark store manual order picking.
“StrongPoint now offers grocery retailers a fully integrated and flexible order fulfilment solution that suits any grocery retailer’s online strategy. By offering instantly deployable manual order picking technology, long-term automation and multiple last mile and click and collect options, grocery retailers can access tailor-made solutions wherever they are on their e-commerce journey,” added Tveraabak.
StrongPoint’s grocery e-commerce solution includes:
– Order picking for in-store picking, dark store picking and manual picking
– Multiple last mile options including home delivery, drive-thru with licence plate recognition and temperature-controlled grocery lockers
– Software to manage the entire workflow for maximum efficiency
– Automated picking with AutoStore’s micro-fulfillment solutions integrated into the grocery retailer’s overall e-commerce solution
To support the partnership and implementation, StrongPoint is being assisted by Marie-Axelle Loustalot-Forest, a leading e-commerce retail expert with over 20 years’ experience in the industry including as the global Chief Commercial Officer at Ocado Solutions.
The partnership with AutoStore is a further step towards StrongPoint’s 2025 strategy by focusing on e-commerce order fulfillment. Robotics and automation are integral to the long-term strategy of grocery retailers looking to drive further efficiency savings in-store and online.
About StrongPoint | www.strongpoint.com
StrongPoint is a retail technology company that provides solutions to make shops smarter, shopping experiences better and online grocery shopping more efficient. With over 400 employees in Norway, Sweden, the Baltics and Spain and together with a wide partner network, StrongPoint supports businesses in more than 20 countries. StrongPoint provides in-store cash management and payment solutions, electronic shelf labels, self-checkouts, task and labor management software, click & collect temperature-controlled grocery lockers, in-store and drive-thru grocery pickup solutions and, grocery order picking solutions. StrongPoint is headquartered in Norway and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with a revenue of 1bn NOK [ticker: STRO].
About AutoStore | www.autostoresystem.com
AutoStore, founded in 1996, is a robot technology company that invented, and continues to pioneer, Cube Storage Automation – the densest storage and order fulfilment solution in existence. The company’s focus is to blend software and hardware with human abilities to create the future of warehousing. AutoStore`s solutions are appreciated worldwide, with more than 600 systems installed in over 35 countries within a wide range of industries. All sales are designed, installed and serviced by a network of qualified system integrators – called “AutoStore Partner”. The company headquarter is in Nedre Vats (Norway), with additional offices in Oslo (Norway), U.S., UK, Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Japan and Korea.