Wayfair provides rare glimpse of new warehouse construction
Protests against construction in the community of Lich gives us deep insights into what the online giant from the USA is looking for in its second German warehouse (and third in Europe) for the CastleGate program.
Investment of 110 million euros; property developed and owned by Dietz AG with tenant Wayfair Deutschland GmbH.
90,000 square meters of warehouse space, 4,000 square meters of office and social rooms over three floors
Lease term for 15 years and 4 months; tenant has the possibility to extend the object 3x for 5 years each time
Approx. 400 car and 190 truck parking spaces
Even the number of truck traffic per day was disclosed: Max. 410 trucks per day, although this only applies to the peak on Monday. On the corresponding page, interested logisticians can find a truck inbound/outbound estimate, obviously written by Wayfair, including average handling times in seconds. Exciting!
Construction to begin October 2019, with approx. 3 months construction delay, planned Wayfair move-in August 1, 2020; now more likely turn of the year 20/21.
Wayfair controls shipping through its own CastleGate warehouses as key lever for better customer experience in online furniture business
For many industry observers, Wayfair represents the prime example of the "asset-light dropshipper." However, Wayfair has long since made a strategic shift internally. To be able to dominate the furniture market, it needs high competence in the customer experience. And this is decisively shaped by fulfillment & last-mile delivery (see also the importance of logistics for providers such as AO).
Wayfair invented CastleGate for this purpose. These are fulfillment warehouses where the brands and furniture manufacturers deliver their goods and Wayfair takes care of the B2C pick, pack and ship. Previously, CastleGate fulfillment centers in Europe existed in Birmingham and Kassel. The expansion via Gießen, geographically close to Kassel, shows that Wayfair's business model also works in Europe and that further capacity is needed.