Dutch retailer Wehkamp expands its distribution center

Dutch online retailer Wehkamp will soon start building its second distribution center in Zwolle, the Netherlands. The new building will arise next to the current, fully automated distribution center. When the new center opens – probably at the end of this year –  Wehkamp will have a distribution center that’s 60,000 square meters big.

Currently, Wehkamp’s distribution center in Zwolle measures 35,000 square meters, so the available space will almost double this year. The online retailer says this is necessary in order to keep pace with the accelerated growth in terms of both orders and new customers.

€40 million investment to build the distribution center

Realizing the new building will be done in partnership with real estate partner WDP, that co-owns the two buildings. Wehkamp and WDP will invest over 40 million euros to realize the new distribution center, which will have 7,000 solar panels on the roof.

Wehkamp will not only build a new logistics center, it will also first expand its current distribution center, by expanding from 450,000 to 525,000 storage locations. And the number of pick stations, where employees will pack the orders, will increase from 24 to 28. “This way we can process over 200,000 orders per day”, the company states in a press release.

Hundreds of new jobs in the region

René de Heer, alderman of Economy & Real Estate of the municipality of Zwolle is happy with the news. “This choice underlines the great importance of Hessenpoort as a large-scale and strategic business park for the Zwolle region. As a result of this expansion, the region will welcome several hundreds of new jobs in the coming years.”

Wehkamp is currently the third-largest online retailer in the Netherlands, only Bol.com and Coolblue generated more sales last year. Wehkamp generated an online revenue worth of 540 million euros last year, which is more than Zalando (530 million euros) or Albert Heijn (400 million) achieved.