Dematic Wins Multimillion Euro Contract with Leading Finnish Grocer Kesko

Intralogistics innovator Dematic today announced a new contract with Finnish retailing conglomerate, Kesko – the second largest grocery retailer in Finland with a 36.9% market share. During the pandemic, Kesko has seen demand for online grocery shopping grow exponentially. This prompted their interest in supply chain automation, and the Dematic Micro-Fulfilment solution featuring AutoStore technology that will be installed at a Kesko store in Helsinki within the first half of 2022.

This pilot installation is part of a multimillion-euro investment in automation technology by Kesko, which anticipates deploying additional micro-fulfilment solutions across its operations in the coming years. It is designed to address Kesko’s previous reliance on manual processes in high demand areas.

With two of AutoStore storage subsystems (one for ambient products and another for chilled goods), the installation will meet growing demand with a four-fold improvement in efficiency.

Steffen Thierfelder, Senior Sales Director for Northern Europe at Dematic, said, “We are delighted to start our partnership with Kesko to help them grow their share of the Finnish grocery market. Combining micro-fulfilment with AutoStore technology will provide Kesko with greater flexibility in fulfilling orders to meet the evolving needs of their customers.”

The Dematic Micro-Fulfilment solution answers the demands of the modern consumer – it allows grocers like Kesko to maintain control of the shopping experience, retain critical customer data and make rapid order fulfilment profitable. AutoStore is a high-density storage and buffering subsystem that provides flexibility and space-efficiency for order fulfilment to the solution.

Pekka Tala, Development Director at Kesko, added, “The Dematic solution will allow us to scale properly as we go through a period of growth. Understandably, we want to avoid any disruption to our grocery supply chain during this significant period of operational change. The solution will also enhance our customers’ instore experience with the majority of online order picking done outside the customer areas. Furthermore, the technology chosen can be utilized in a way which best supports our business model.”

Tala continued, “Thanks to Dematic’s highly professional team, the evaluation and purchasing process was extremely fluent. We are looking forward to working closely with Dematic to provide a high level of service to our customers, particularly through online fulfilment services such as click and collect.”