The logistics team at online retailer Fanatics attended the Warehouse Technology Group event to look for help with challenges that will be very familiar to many readers of Handling & Storage Solutions.

Fanatics supplies sportswear through a variety of websites and fulfils in the UK from a Manchester warehouse, the finite capacity of which places a challenge on the firm’s ability to grow. However, it is a challenge that the warehouse team are up to tackling.

Andrew Crozier, online supply manager, at Fanatics explains: “The limit is the building, but we’ve got aggressive growth plans, so it’s down to us to make things fit and work.

“Originally the warehouse was configured to hold 27,000 SKUs. We’ve got about 37,000 at the moment, and peaked at 44,000 last Christmas. This Christmas we will aim for 56,000. We think ultimately we could get a maximum of 75,000.” The team acknowledges this enormous sweating of the asset - with almost three times the SKUs as they started with - may lead to some loss in efficiency - but this has to be balanced against the lack of suitable warehousing available, and the high price of that which is available.