Galaxus expansion: new warehouse up and running in Bülach
Galaxus has opened the doors to a new warehouse spanning 9,000 square metres. The extra space on the outskirts of Zurich will generate extra capacity for the online retailer to handle in-demand items including batteries and coffee capsules, which are ordered hundreds of times a day. In the near future, one in ten parcels will be shipped from Bülach.
Oat milk, canned mate, batteries, headphones, printer cartridges, diapers, coffee capsules. It’s not the spectacular products that push logistics centres to their limits, but consumables and bestsellers. These products are ordered in large quantities on a daily basis but still have to pass through the entire logistics facility one by one each time they’re ordered. To deal with this challenge specifically, Galaxus opened an additional warehouse in Bülach on 1 September.
A football field for handling the favourites
Measuring 9,000 square metres, the new warehouse is slightly larger than a football field. Although that’s not much compared to Galaxus’s central warehouse in Wohlen spanning roughly 120,000 square metres, it still has a noticeable impact. About 10 per cent of the order volume currently handled in Wohlen will be processed in Bülach in the future. With Galaxus’s ongoing growth, this extra space is certainly needed. Although Wohlen will remain the central logistics hub, Bülach has been added as a specialised site. «We keep on growing and that requires space,» says Armando Villarreal, the man in charge of supply chain development and strategy at Digitec Galaxus. «By launching the new warehouse in Bülach, we’re creating targeted capacity for the products our customers order most frequently.»
An order of oat milk will be handled in Bülach
Which warehouse handles what is based on a simple principle: If a customer places an order containing this type of popular item only, the parcel’s shipped from Bülach. If their order contains a mix of products that aren’t all fast-moving, Galaxus assembles the order in Wohlen, as it has done in the past. This way, Galaxus only needs to send out one instead of two parcels. The other element that comes into play is called cross-docking. This method eliminates intermediate storage altogether. In practice, this means that Galaxus orders items from a supplier only after a customer has placed an order. Those items are then sent to Bülach, where they’re packaged and shipped out the same day. This happens in the background and changes nothing for customers when they’re shopping. The Bülach boxes are branded with the Galaxus logo, so it’s not visible which warehouse deliveries hail from. Instead, Bülach stands out in a different way: thanks to the capacity it adds, more orders are shipped out to customers on time.
Full operation in early 2027
Thirty people are currently busy handling cross-docking goods at the warehouse in Bülach. The site will then be growing in phases, before becoming fully operational with 150 employees in early 2027. The warehouse is run by external logistics provider Fiege and most of the jobs created for the site are new and specifically designed for the requirements of Galaxus. Galaxus decided to work with an external partner who was able to set up the warehouse quickly. «Fiege’s very fast at implementing this type of project,» says Armando. «That sealed the deal for us.»
As a Multimedia Producer, preparing multimedia content and knowing about cutting-edge technology is my business. My main focus at digitec is producing videos. I can’t wait to try out new products such as cameras, drones or smartphones as soon as they’re launched. This is where being at the source comes in rather handy. When I’m not working, I’m probably skiing, biking or hiking – the mountains are my place to be.
Everything you'd usually read on a news portal or in the newspaper can be found here, directly from the source: annual figures, new services, our efforts for greater sustainability, sales trends and so on.
Show all
