Hudson’s Bay Co. expands robotics to U.S. operations

Hudson’s Bay Co. is bullish on robotics.



The department store chain has called its robotically managed distribution center in Toronto “a giant leap forward” in fulfilling its digital orders. Now the company hopes to gain similar successes here in the United States when it rolls out similar technology in its Pottsville, Pa., facility during 2017, to serve both its Lord & Taylor and Saks Off 5th online businesses, the chain’s CEO Gerald Storch said during the company’s third quarter earnings call on Dec. 6.



Hudson’s Bay Co.’s robotic technology can fulfill orders 12 to 15 times faster than manual processes in its Toronto-based distribution center. The technology also has helped the department store chain optimize the vertical space within the facility.



Once in place in Pottsville, “this improved technology will help us increase the speed of our order fulfillment, optimize utilization of space in our distribution center, and reduce expenses associated with our rapidly growing digital sales, which grew by 12.9% in our legacy businesses during the third quarter,” Storch said.



The U.S. expansion dovetails into the company’s plan to reduce operating costs and increase efficiencies among an increasingly evolving omnichannel model.



“We continue to focus on delighting our customers by building a digital and brick-and-mortar platform that will allow them to shop whenever, wherever and however they choose,” Storch added. “While we’ve made considerable progress in this area over the last year, we continue to look for areas in which we can improve efficiencies and reduce our cost structure.”