Intelligent AS/RS Empowers Warehousing Transformation in New Retail

Driven jointly by consumption upgrading and digital technology, the new retail model has broken down online–offline consumption barriers and formed an omni-channel closed loop of online ordering, offline fulfillment and instant delivery. This places entirely new requirements on warehousing in terms of high efficiency, flexibility, refinement and low cost.Traditional flat warehouses suffer from low space utilization, insufficient operational efficiency, lagging inventory control and weak fulfillment capacity, making it difficult to meet the core characteristics of new retail — massive SKUs, small batches, high frequency and short lead times. As a core carrier for intelligent warehousing upgrading, the intelligent AS/RS boasts intensive space utilization, automated operations and refined management. It is deeply integrated into the entire warehousing workflow of new retail, driving systematic warehousing transformation in dimensions including space utilization, operational efficiency, inventory management and fulfillment capability. It provides solid support for new retail enterprises to cut costs, improve efficiency and enhance core competitiveness, and has become an important engine for the high-quality development of new retail.The core competitiveness of new retail lies in being consumer-centric. As the key hub of the supply chain, warehousing directly determines fulfillment efficiency and consumer experience. By integrating automated equipment, intelligent management systems and digital technologies, the intelligent AS/RS accurately addresses the core pain points of new retail warehousing and promotes the transformation of warehousing from traditional storage to an intelligent fulfillment center. Its transformative effects are mainly reflected in five aspects, illustrated with industry practice cases as follows:

I. Transformation of Intensive Space Utilization: Solving the Land Scarcity Dilemma in New Retail Warehousing

Most new retail enterprises are located in urban core areas where warehouse space resources are tight and rental costs remain high. Meanwhile, they face a sharp growth in SKU quantities — categories such as beauty products, snacks and daily necessities may expand to thousands or even tens of thousands of items — together with diversified storage demands. The space utilization rate of traditional flat warehouses is below 40%, which can hardly meet growing storage needs.By expanding vertical space and adopting high-rise rack storage, the intelligent AS/RS achieves a space utilization rate 3 to 5 times higher than traditional warehouses, greatly increasing storage capacity per unit area and perfectly matching the demand for multi-SKU and high-density storage in new retail.For example, the unmanned lightning warehouse launched by Hangzhou Shiyi covers only 20 to 50 square meters per site. With an intelligent high-density rack layout, it can accommodate more than 2,000 selected SKUs covering snacks, beverages, daily necessities and emergency medical supplies to meet daily living demands all day long. It realizes the goal of small footprint with large capacity, adapts warehouse layout requirements in urban core areas such as communities and office buildings, and substantially reduces rental costs.In addition, the intelligent AS/RS flexibly divides storage zones according to SKU characteristics such as size, weight and turnover speed, enabling precise categorized storage and avoiding disorderly stacking in traditional warehouses. This further improves space efficiency and relieves the core pressure of land shortage in new retail warehousing.

II. Transformation of Operational Automation: Adapting to High-Frequency and Fast-Turnover Needs of New Retail

The core fulfillment demand of new retail is instant delivery, requiring warehouses to achieve fast inbound, efficient picking and accurate outbound. It needs to cope with fragmented orders and dramatic peak fluctuations such as live-stream sales and holiday promotions. Traditional manual warehousing is limited by low efficiency and high error rates, unable to withstand high-frequency order pressure.Integrating stackers, AGV/AMR robots, conveyors and intelligent picking equipment, the intelligent AS/RS realizes full-process warehousing automation, significantly boosts operational efficiency and reduces manual intervention, matching the fast-turnover fulfillment requirements of new retail.The intelligent order picking solution launched by Shanghai Kuaicang adopts collaboration between mobile robots, movable racks and intelligent operating systems to implement the goods-to-person picking model, replacing the inefficient traditional person-to-goods workflow. It reduces labor reliance by 50% to 70% while greatly improving picking efficiency, well suited to small-batch and high-frequency order picking in new retail.Furthermore, the intelligent AS/RS supports 24/7 uninterrupted operation. During order peaks such as live-stream sales booms, it responds rapidly to surging order volumes and avoids efficiency decline caused by manual fatigue, ensuring timely order processing and supporting instant delivery. In some scenarios, picking efficiency is improved 5 to 10 times compared with the traditional model, effectively solving the problem of delayed order fulfillment in new retail.

III. Transformation of Refined Inventory Management: Enabling Accurate Inventory Control and Reducing Overstock

Under the new retail model, product iteration is fast and consumer demand changes rapidly. Improper inventory control easily leads to stockouts of fast-selling items and overstock of slow-moving goods, resulting in capital tie-up and rising costs.By connecting with WMS (Warehouse Management System) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning System), the intelligent AS/RS realizes real-time inventory data collection, dynamic monitoring and precise control. It breaks the limitations of traditional warehousing such as ambiguous inventory status and cumbersome manual stocktaking, enables refined inventory management, and fits the sales-driven inventory allocation operation model of new retail.Leveraging barcode recognition and RFID traceability technologies of the intelligent AS/RS, full-lifecycle traceability is realized for every single item, recording complete data of inbound, storage, picking and outbound processes. Managers can check real-time inventory quantity, storage location and turnover speed to grasp inventory dynamics accurately.Combined with big data and AI algorithms, consumer demand can be precisely predicted to adjust inventory layout in advance. High-demand goods are allocated to front warehouses or core warehousing nodes to achieve preparation before purchasing, avoiding stockouts of popular items while reducing overstock of slow-moving goods and lowering overall inventory costs.The Shiyi Intelligent Cloud Brain System developed by Hangzhou Shiyi dynamically optimizes inventory distribution, accurately forecasts consumer demand, and realizes intelligent inventory deployment, providing core support for new retail inventory management.

IV. Fulfillment Flexibility Transformation: Supporting Omni-Channel and Multi-Scenario Fulfillment in New Retail

New retail breaks the boundary between online e-commerce and offline physical stores, forming an omni-channel layout covering online platforms, offline stores, front warehouses and community warehouses. It requires warehousing to possess flexible fulfillment capabilities that can rapidly respond to order demands from different channels and scenarios, such as instant delivery for online orders, replenishment for offline stores, and self-pickup for community group buying.The traditional warehousing model is rigid and difficult to adapt to multi-channel and multi-scenario fulfillment demands. In contrast, intelligent AS/RS features high flexible adaptability, enabling integrated processing and precise fulfillment of orders from multiple channels.Equipped with an intelligent scheduling system, intelligent AS/RS realizes classified processing, accurate picking and rapid outbound of orders from different channels. It supports instant delivery of online orders, meets replenishment needs of offline stores, and adapts to replenishment scheduling for community warehouses and front warehouses, achieving coordinated omni-channel fulfillment.For instance, the in-depth integrated solution of AGVs and intelligent AS/RS launched by Jingsong Intelligent boasts high flexibility, applicable to multiple scenarios such as e-commerce logistics and supermarket retail. It can quickly respond to order changes and deliver precise fulfillment across different scenarios, with a daily order processing capacity of up to 200,000 orders, fully meeting the omni-channel fulfillment demands of new retail.Leveraging the linkage mode of central warehouse plus front warehouse, Hema Fresh’s intelligent AS/RS relies on the flexible scheduling capability of automated warehousing to realize one-hour delivery for online orders and real-time replenishment for offline stores, greatly enhancing consumer experience and setting a benchmark case for new retail fulfillment.

V. Digital Management Transformation: Driving Data-Driven Upgrading of New Retail Warehousing

The core of new retail lies in data-driven operation. As a core collection node of supply chain data, the digitalization level of warehousing directly affects corporate operational decision-making. Traditional warehousing management relies on manual records and empirical judgment, featuring delayed data and blind decision-making, which cannot keep pace with the rapidly iterative operational demands of new retail.By integrating digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data and artificial intelligence, intelligent AS/RS realizes full-process digitalization of warehouse management, providing accurate data support for the operational decisions of new retail enterprises.The intelligent management system of AS/RS collects full-process warehousing data in real time, including order information, inventory data, equipment operating parameters and operational efficiency indicators. Through data cleaning, integration and analysis, it generates multi-dimensional operational reports that intuitively display warehouse operating status, operational bottlenecks and optimization potential.Managers can optimize inventory layout, adjust operational workflows and allocate equipment resources based on such data, achieving refined decision-making in warehouse operation.As a typical example, JD Logistics’ Asia No.1 intelligent warehouse monitors the entire warehousing process in real time via a digital management system, and optimizes scheduling schemes combined with big data analysis. It not only improves operational efficiency, but also accelerates inventory turnover, strongly supporting the rapid development of JD’s new retail business.

VI. Implementation and Adaptation Suggestions: Enabling Efficient Deployment for New Retail Enterprises

The core value of intelligent AS/RS in empowering new retail warehousing transformation lies in matching technology with actual business demands. When deploying intelligent AS/RS, new retail enterprises shall proceed according to their own business characteristics, avoid blind investment, and ensure the goals of cost reduction and efficiency improvement.First, select a matched configuration of intelligent AS/RS based on the scale of SKUs, order volume and fulfillment scenarios. Small and medium-sized new retail enterprises can give priority to flexible and miniaturized intelligent warehousing solutions to lower investment costs.Second, attach importance to system collaboration, ensuring seamless connection between intelligent AS/RS and WMS, ERP and distribution systems to achieve omni-channel data synchronization and coordinated fulfillment.Third, strengthen personnel training to improve the professional competence of management and operation & maintenance staff, so as to guarantee the stable operation of intelligent AS/RS.Fourth, reserve expansion space to accommodate future growth in SKU quantity and order volume, and reduce secondary renovation costs.To sum up, through all-round transformation in intensive space utilization, automated operation, refined inventory management, flexible fulfillment and digital management, intelligent AS/RS effectively solves the core pain points of new retail warehousing. It drives the transformation of warehousing from a traditional storage center to an intelligent fulfillment center, providing solid support for new retail enterprises in omni-channel layout, instant delivery and refined operation.With the continuous advancement of the new retail model and iterative upgrading of intelligent technologies, the integration of intelligent AS/RS and new retail warehousing will be further deepened, adapting to more segmented scenarios. It will guide the new retail supply chain toward higher efficiency, greater flexibility and higher precision, helping new retail enterprises enhance core competitiveness and achieve high-quality development.