Retail & E-commerce Storage Solutions

One of the most common traits across retail and e-commerce operations is that goods generally arrive in cartons or boxes, not palletised. Those boxes are usually of a known size or a small range of sizes, which lends itself well to integrated shelving and mezzanine-style systems rather than traditional high-level pallet racking.

What we often see is shelving installed at heights relative to the size of the boxes, combined with a mezzanine or raised storage area starting around two and a half to three metres. Above that, additional shelving levels are added. This allows different areas of the system to handle different speeds of stock movement, some faster moving, some slower moving, and allows picking to occur at different levels and at different paces. That integrated mezzanine and shelving solution is very applicable to e-commerce and what you might call back-of-house retail operations.

How goods move between levels really comes down to the scale of the business. In larger operations, goods are often picked into bins on the upper level and then transferred down to the lower level via conveyors, where orders are completed, packed, and dispatched.

Smaller businesses tend to use simpler methods, such as manual handling or slides and chutes, where cartons are moved down from the upper level to packing below. It’s really about the volume of orders and the speed required, as businesses grow, the systems tend to evolve to support that scale.

In some cases, heavier items are stored on mezzanine floors, while lighter items are stored in integrated shelving alongside them. The key is understanding how goods move through the business and adapting the storage solution to suit.

Retail and e-commerce facilities can usually be broken into four or five key areas. There is an incoming goods area, where stock arrives from containers or trucks. From there, goods are either stored directly into longspan shelving systems or, in some cases, into selective pallet racking.

From storage, goods move into picking areas, which may be consolidated from multiple locations depending on the order requirements. Finally, items move into packing areas, where orders are completed and prepared for courier and delivery. Each zone is designed to support the flow of goods from receipt through to dispatch as efficiently as possible.

One of the biggest challenges for retail and e-commerce businesses is managing peaks and fluctuations in stock movement. Many businesses deal with strong seasonal components, for example, winter versus summer ranges, fashion runs, or promotional events.

It’s common for large volumes of goods to arrive well in advance of major sales events, such as Black Friday or Click Frenzy. That creates a need for significant storage capacity upfront. Once sales begin, goods move out quickly, and then often flow back in again through returns. Designing storage systems that can handle these inflows and outflows, particularly within limited space, is a challenge for both small and large businesses.

In retail and e-commerce, you rarely see complex high-density systems like drive-in racking. There’s generally not enough commonality of goods to justify those systems. Instead, storage solutions tend to focus on mezzanine integrated shelving, longspan shelving, and selective pallet racking where required.

In some cases, flow racking is used, particularly for parts-based businesses rather than clothing. Flow systems allow goods to slide forward as items are picked, which helps prevent stock from being lost in the system and supports first-in, first-out handling, especially useful where goods have expiry or best-before dates.

For retail store rooms with very limited space, such as shoe stores, we also install mobile shelving systems based on compactus-style designs. These systems allow shelving bays to slide left or right, creating highly condensed storage while still providing access to a wide range of products and sizes.

When working with retail and e-commerce businesses, we often approach the site with a fresh set of eyes. Having seen a wide range of systems over many years, we’re able to guide clients toward storage solutions that better suit their space, flow, and capacity requirements.

Rather than being constrained by what has been done previously, we help businesses explore alternative options and layouts that improve efficiency and make better use of available space. From there, clients can make informed decisions based on their budget, operational needs, and future growth.

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