The demand for Grade-A warehouses is growing in tier-2 and tier-3 cities in India due to a boom in e-commerce in those markets said a top official of Godrej Storage Solution, a business of Godrej & Boyce Mgf Co. which provides integrated solutions to warehouses.
Grade-A warehouses are spaces which facilitate efficient operations of the supply chain.
Cities like Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Lucknow-Kanpur, Coimbatore, Patna, Bhubaneshwar, Nagpur, Indore and Vizag are the emerging hotspots for the warehousing sector, the official said.
“The number of ‘Grade A’ warehouses in India is estimated to increase to 35% from 25% before the pandemic making e-commerce a major adopter of Grade A warehouses,” Vikas Choudaha, Senior Vice President and Business Head, Godrej Storage Solutions, Godrej & Boyce said.
“Godrej & Boyce is poised to offer an integrated solution for the warehousing industry in India, converting Grade B and Grade C warehouses to structured, automated warehousing facilities. We believe that automation will not be at the cost of removing people, instead, it will increase the efficiency, which will reduce the cost of operation and time of delivery in tier 2 and tier 3 cities,” he said.
“Godrej Storage Solutions’ design capability with global benchmarks provides efficient as well as optimal solutions for all customer applications utilising advanced technologies, knowledge base and complying with relevant racking standards”, he added.
In the coming years, secondary markets are expected to grow faster than primary markets owing to the increase in grocery penetration and in city warehousing, Mr. Choudaha said.
However, some challenges like high throughput and accuracy, changing SKUs with changing demand patterns, handling peak sales seasons (e.g.: Big Billion-day, Prime day, Independence Day sale), high manpower turnover rate, and future expansion with business growth need to be tackled by warehouse players to ensure seamless order fulfilment, he added.
“E-commerce warehousing is leading the pack in adopting cutting-edge automation like robotics, drones, etc. due to its fast delivery and high-volume nature. The potential of AI to optimise crucial processes such as supply management and storage efficiency is revolutionising the industry,” he said
