Fast-fashion retailer Mango has kicked off a 35 million euros ($42.43 million) expansion of its logistics center in Barcelona.
This expansion will allow the company to reduce the cost of preparing online orders by 25 percent. The new facilities will increase space by 90,000 square meters, giving it a total surface area of 280,000 square meters.
The aim of the expansion is to allow the center to meet the growth of e-commerce logistics–making it possible to send orders directly to the final customer, increase the capacity and speed of the dispatch area, and support Mango’s new business lines.
“The increase we are experiencing in e-commerce confirms that planning this expansion was the right decision, given that it will allow us to automate certain tasks in order to absorb the anticipated volume,” Toni Ruiz, Mango CEO, said. “Maintaining investments in strategic projects that will allow us to anticipate future needs and become more competitive is a priority for the company.”
Mango forecasts that the new facilities, which will be distributed across three floors, will commence part of its delivery operations during the second half of 2022. The center will have full omnichannel capability by 2023.
“With this growth, we will give the center full omnichannel capability, optimizing the existing installations and complementing them with solutions that are more specific to e-commerce,” Ruiz said.
The expansion includes the incorporation of new automated systems to complement existing functionalities. This includes a pouch sorter, making it possible to sequence orders and automate the processing of returns, which is particularly important for the online channel. It will also be equipped with Automated Mobile Robots (AMRs) used for internal movement that will guarantee the high degree of flexibility necessary in today’s changing environment.
In addition, it will be equipped with a shipping sorter for processing deliveries. With the new facilities, the logistics center will increase its capacity for processing garments by up to an extra 10,000 garments per hour. In total, it will be able to process 85,000 garments per hour.
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The new building is being developed in accordance with responsible building practices. It will be equipped with solar panels on the roof that will supply the energy necessary to generate the hot water, as well as charging points for electric vehicles. It also plans to reuse all the rainwater from the roof to supply water to the Can Dunyó wetlands area located nearby.
Currently, the logistics center centralizes distribution to the more than 2,200 stores Mango has in some 110 countries. It also replenishes the 11 online business warehouses Mango operates worldwide.