Woolworths has announced plans for a new fulfilment centre in Sydney’s Southerland Shire to provide more than 15,000 deliveries to the region.
The proposed 7,200 square metre warehouse is earmarked for Caringbah to fulfil online only grocery orders. The deliveries would include home deliveries and direct-to-boot pickup for customers living in Kurnell to Engadine. The Shire has around 235,000 residents.
Woolworth director of ecommerce Anette Karantoni said the company has seen “more and more of our customers turn to the ease and convenience of online grocery delivery in the Shire”.
The Caringbah fulfilment centre will enable more delivery windows and greater reliability for online shoppers, Karantoni said.
Once completed, it will employ around 400 full-time equivalent roles and around 250 jobs during construction.
Woolworths’ focus on providing an improved online experience comes after it saw a 92 per cent increase in ecommerce sales growth from July to December in 2020, accounting for eight per cent of its total sales.
The facility will be significantly more spacious than a supermarket, with wider aisles and more shelf space, giving personal shoppers customers ease of access to hand pick between a range of 20,000 products quickly and efficiently.
In April, Woolworths put in a DA for a 22,000 square metre automated fulfilment centre in Auburn in Western Sydney.
In December 2020, it opened what was then its largest centre in Australia at 15,000 square metres, in Lidcombe, also in Western Sydney.
Plans for the multi-million-dollar hub have been lodged with Sutherland Shire Council. Construction will begin in early 2022 if approved.
