Located in Etna, Ohio, the 1.2mn-ft2 (110.000m2) centre is Kohl’s largest fulfilment centre and will be dedicated to processing, filling and shipping orders from the Kohls.com e-commerce site. The next-generation facility leverages automation and technology to make processing and delivering online orders faster and more efficient. Construction of the facility began in 2019, was temporarily paused in 2020 due to the pandemic, and resumed in 2021. The new e-commerce fulfilment centre supports the company’s initiatives to manage fulfilment costs at a lower level, while further leveraging stores to drive customer pickup and get closer to the customer. According to Kohl’s, its technology will make the facility three times more productive than its traditional e-commerce fulfilment centres. By removing five touches from the full fulfilment life-cycle of an online order, orders can be processed more efficiently with minimized fulfilment costs, while maintaining accuracy. In response to continued online demand and digital sales acceleration, Kohl’s has invested over the past several years in building an omnichannel platform. In 2020, Kohl’s stores fulfilled nearly 45% of digital orders through free omnichannel services including drive-up, in-store-pick-up, and ship-to-store.
