What's the secret behind Diapers.com? KIVA robots.
Starting in July, Quidsi, Inc will try to dominate drugstore retailers with Soap.com, an online megastore that will sell 25,000 products – everything from toilet paper to makeup. According to Quidsi’s recent press release Soap.com will offer next day delivery for most of the country for free! How can they manage such fast order placement? Robots. As seen in the video below, KIVA robots allow Quidsi’s first megastore, Diapers.com, to turn their warehouse into a well oiled package processing machine. These same bots could help Soap.com conquer the world…of bathroom goods.
Quidsi struck gold in 2005 with the launch of Diapers.com by creating a super-reliable online retail outlet for baby products. The site sold more than $180 million last year, and is projected to hit $300 million for 2010. Soap.com could have a similar trajectory. The KIVA robotics system, as we’ve seen before, dramatically increases warehouse processing speed to keep up with the large orders that come through. Robots bring products to humans who stand in place, picking and sorting quickly. It’s a great example of how man and machine working together can maximize the efficiency of each.
With Soap.com, this system will become even more necessary as there will be 25,000 items and 900 brands to be found in the warehouse. And that’s just for the initial launch in July. By the end of 2010 there will be 40k products and 100k by the end of 2011. All at prices up to 25% less than at neighborhood stores. That’s going to really boost Soap.com’s sales.
Online retail is already a huge industry, and it’s only getting bigger as customers come to trust that the goods they order will arrive quickly and cheaply. Whether or not Quidsi is the one to do it, the $100+ billion drugstore market it going to get pulled online. As so many others have and will. Automated warehouses are one key ingredient in making it happen. Not exactly what I expected when I thought about robots giving people bubble baths, but hey, the future is full of suprises.
[screen capture and video credit: Quidsi]
[source: Quidsi Press Release, Twitter Feed]
Tags: automated warehouse, Diapers.com, kiva, online retail, Quidsi, robotics, Soap.com, warehouse
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Amazon seems to disagree with the author.
I know the secret to their success: pathetic salaries. I interviewed for a position with them two years back before they hit it big and the salary they offered was barely above living wage — and this was for someone with 15 years of experience in ecommerce.
And this will help the U.S.’s current economic crisis how?
And here I was all excited about building a automated warehouse with Kiva loans…
[...] out the video below (grabbed from Singularity Hub) to see how Diapers.com is using automation in their warehouse. The guy doing the talking has a [...]
[...] became a $180 million phenomenon. Robots! That’s according to Singularity Hub, which says that the Inc. 500 company was able to quickly fill lots of orders by using robots made by Kiva [...]
[...] became a $180 million phenomenon. Robots! That’s according to Singularity Hub, which says that the Inc. 500 company was able to quickly fill lots of orders by using robots made by Kiva [...]
[...] became a $180 million phenomenon. Robots! That’s according to Singularity Hub, which says that the Inc. 500 company was able to quickly fill lots of orders by using robots made by Kiva [...]
[...] became a $180 million phenomenon. Robots! That’s according to Singularity Hub, which says that the Inc. 500 company was able to quickly fill lots of orders by using robots made by Kiva [...]
[...] Singularity Hub: What’s The Secret Behind Diapers.com Success? A Kiva Robot Warehouse [...]
[...] 前陣子看到一則新聞，指出有一個購物網站叫做「尿布.com」(Diapers.com)，這個網站，名符其實的，全部都是賣「尿布」，什麼牌子、什麼型號的尿布都有，但是它當然不止於賣尿布，這個名字太好記了，所以所有新科父母都被吸引過來，除了尿布，當然奶粉、紙巾、奶瓶、副食品…甚至較高單價的嬰兒推車、嬰兒床都有賣，然後再繼續擴展到衛生紙、化妝品……他們的產品高達2萬5千種，現在一年業績高達1.8億美元，今年更預計成長到3億美元。 [...]
[...] Diapers.com became a $180 million phenomenon. Robots! That's according to Singularity Hub, which says that the Inc. 500 company was able to quickly fill lots of orders by using robots made by Kiva [...]
[...] became a $180 million phenomenon. Robots! That’s according to Singularity Hub, which says that the Inc. 500 company was able to quickly fill lots of orders by using robots made by Kiva [...]
[...] became a $180 million phenomenon. Robots! That’s according to Singularity Hub, which says that the Inc. 500 company was able to quickly fill lots of orders by using robots made by Kiva [...]