What: Dark stores are increasingly part of the retailers’ strategies in order to fulfil e-commerce orders in a timely manner.

Why it is important: US operators also use this tool as a method to enter new markets or new states without opening traditional stores, a manner to maximize the brand equity and the website value by increasing its potential reach.

E-commerce sales are expected to reach $6,5 trillion by 2023, and new forms of fulfilment, including dark stores, are expected to support this increase. It is also expected that dark stores morph into new models, as retailers start to refine their approach to such a practice.

In the US, dark stores are for instance increasingly used by major retailers and F&B operators to cover territories where they are not physically implemented with stores (the strategy of “ghosting” the territory). Kroger for instance is entering new regions through a partnership with Ocado by building robotic warehouses and micro-fulfilment sites in American states where there are no stores. Thanks to this approach, customers in Florida can be served in 30 minutes.

Such an approach includes partnerships with companies involved in tech and logistics. For instance, Swisslog, a robotic company, equips automated e-commerce fulfilment centres for Giant Direct, the online division of Giant Food, while Instacart helps Kroger to offer a “virtual convenience store” available to 50m households.

Flexibility is key: for instance, in 2020 Whole Foods turned 6 stores into dark platforms, and turned back 4 of them into traditional stores.

Dark Stores: prepare to be ghosted