The plans were driven by the growth in online sales: 92 percent from July to December 2020, meaning that online sales account for around eight percent of Woolworths' total sales.

Amanda Bardwell, Managing Director of WooliesX, says: "We have seen extraordinary growth in online grocery over the last year. Looking to the future, we see that more and more customers want to have their groceries delivered to their homes easily and conveniently. This gives them more time in their stressful everyday lives. To keep up with this huge demand, innovation is needed - with new technologies to boost performance and enable the best possible online grocery shopping experience. This fulfillment center represents a significant change to our online offering for customers in Western Sydney. Through automation at the highest level, our personal shopper team will be able to sort many more orders - allowing us to offer our customers faster delivery options and more time slots."

Depending on planning approvals, construction is scheduled to start in 2021. The go-live is planned for 2024. Rudolf Hansl, Vice President for Food Retail Solutions at Knapp: "In cooperation with Woolworths, we have developed a highly automated and cost-effective concept for online grocery retail. Our proven technologies enable orders to be put together quickly and efficiently. We are delighted about the partnership with Woolworths and look forward to further cooperation in the coming years."

The strong growth in the e-commerce business requires this investment in online fulfillment in Auburn. It builds on the recent investment in a micro fulfillment solution from Takeoff, which was also equipped with Knapp technology. The MFCs will be used in Auckland at Carrum Downs, Victoria, Moorehouse, Christchurch and Penrose.

Auburn will use the same Knapp technology, but on a much larger scale. This will provide efficiency benefits while opening up new growth potential for Woolworths. With planned investments in pick-up, in-store fulfillment and on-demand delivery, Woolworths stores will remain an important part of the online retail network.

Amanda Bardwell concludes: "Auburn and our other fulfillment centers play a great role in complementing the work of our in-store teams. They help us to better serve the regions that have the highest population density and demand for online groceries. Despite our investments in new fulfillment centers, our local stores remain the heart of our online business. By making the most of our unrivaled local store network, we can offer our customers same-day or on-demand delivery and convenient pick-up options."