Wehkamp Plots Double-Digit Growth Trajectory With Manhattan Associates

NIEUWEGEIN, The Netherlands and ATLANTA, March 05, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Manhattan Associates Inc. (NASDAQ: MANH) today announced that leading Dutch online retailer Wehkamp has selected Manhattan’s Warehouse Management System (WMS) to run its new distribution centre (DC) in Zwolle, Netherlands. The project, part of a €40 million investment Wehkamp is making in expanding and modernising this DC, will eventually extend to Wehkamp’s other DCs in the country. Wehkamp chose Manhattan’s WMS because of its industry-leading functionality, because it can orchestrate and maximise the performance of both human and automated resources and because it will allow the retailer to scale order line volumes at a 20 percent growth clip.

With 2.7 million regular customers and more than 11 million orders processed annually, Wehkamp is the Netherlands’ online market leader in fashion, lifestyle, beauty and baby/childrenswear. Its Zwolle DC, already one of the world’s largest automated DCs for online retail at 360,000 square feet, is being extended to 650,000 square feet. Once this expansion is completed, Wehkamp will have almost 1.5 million square feet of warehousing capacity in the Netherlands and be able to process more than 250,000 order lines per day.

Once Wehkamp began this DC expansion and modernisation project, executives concluded that the company’s incumbent WMS would not be able to keep up with its rapid growth or the additional associated complexity. The company set out to find a single, future-proof solution that could be deployed across its DCs, could efficiently orchestrate workflow across both automated and manual resources and could maximise product flow-through velocity.

Manhattan’s state-of-the-art WMS will provide Wehkamp with more flexibility in terms of how it processes orders and returns, maximise asset utilisation and support mobile workflows within its DCs. The solution’s order streaming capabilities will allow the retailer to simultaneously process wave, waveless and flow-through orders, whilst its embedded Warehouse Execution System (WES) capabilities will orchestrate workflow between its human workforce and its various automated technologies, which include 550 shuttle robots.

“Wehkamp has grown rapidly because we have made ‘offering the ultimate customer experience’ our number one priority,” said Maarten Tibosch, chief operations officer at Wehkamp. “Manhattan’s WMS will help us develop a supply chain that is effective, efficient, flexible and scalable to support our customers’ evolving needs. This solution will maximise asset utilisation, accelerate inventory flows and get goods to consumers faster.”

Pieter Van den Broecke, managing director, Benelux and Germany, Manhattan Associates commented, “Manhattan currently works with the top brands and retailers around the globe to help them navigate the complexities of omnichannel fulfilment. With Manhattan’s WMS, Wehkamp can be confident it will be able to deliver on its growth and efficiency improvement goals so that it can make the lives of all families in the Netherlands ‘easier and more beautiful’.” 

About Wehkamp
Wehkamp is a large online department store in the Netherlands. The company has more than 2.7 million regular customers and more than 500,000 visitors a day, and it ships more than 11 million packages a year. Its product assortment consists of more than 400,000 different items spanning some 2,000 brands, mainly in the categories of fashion, living, beauty and baby/children. Wehkamp sells large international brands, local brands, small brands and exclusive brands, and produces many private label collections. The company believes in cleverly combining fashion and lifestyle with online technology and a great shopping experience to offer its customers and partners a relevant and compelling retail platform. More than 50 percent of its customers now shop on their mobile devices, mainly via the Wehkamp app. Any stock item can be ordered today, shipped free of charge tomorrow and returned free of charge. Wehkamp’s mission is simple: to make the lives of all families in the Netherlands easier and more beautiful. For more information, please visit www.wehkamp.nl.

About Manhattan Associates
Manhattan Associates is a technology leader in supply chain and omnichannel commerce. We unite information across the enterprise, converging front-end sales with back-end supply chain execution. Our software, platform technology and unmatched experience help drive both top-line growth and bottom-line profitability for our customers.

Manhattan Associates designs, builds and delivers leading-edge cloud and on-premises solutions so that across the store, through your network or from your fulfilment centre, you are ready to reap the rewards of the omnichannel marketplace. For more information, please visit: www.manh.nl or www.manh.com/en-nl.