SPORTSSHOES.COM INVESTS £1.5m IN SEMI-AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE SYSTEM TO SUPPORT ONGOING GROWTH STRATEGY

Online running shoes, running clothing and outdoor gear retailer SportsShoes.com has invested £1.5m in a state-of-the-art semi-automated warehouse system as part of its ongoing growth plans.

This news follows SportsShoes.com announcing it achieved a record turnover of £93.3m for the year ended 28 February 2025 by improving its annual sales by four percent.

During the same period, the business achieved a 13.3 per cent year-on-year increase in EBITDA to £6m and acquired 672,465 new customers.

The new warehouse system comprises automated conveyers and packaging machines which enable faster order processing and distribution to customers throughout the UK, Europe and Scandinavia.

SportsShoes.com’s investment has improved product picking capacity by 150 per cent and can pack between 480 and 600 products per hour per machine, representing a six-fold increase in performance.

Established in 1982, the Bradford-based retailer offers customers more than 17,000 products from 150 global running and outdoor brands. From a running perspective these include Asics, Nike, Adidas, Hoka, New Balance and Brooks whilst in terms of outdoor they include Salomon, Montane, Rab and Patagonia.

This latest investment means that over the past three years, the retailer has invested more than £4.5m in its people, processes, technologies and facilities to underpin the delivery of its growth strategy.

SportsShoes.com general manager, Louise Cartner, commented: “This latest investment has made a significant positive difference to our warehouse operations.

“We strive to provide our customers with a market-leading shopping experience, from finding a product to receiving their order, and the new system gives us the capability and capacity to continually improve.

“Our new system provides us with the infrastructure to further enhance the speed and efficiency of our order processing and distribution operations.

“These efficiency gains put us in a stronger position to unlock future scalability for the business by enabling us to explore ways to optimise the way we use our current facilities.”

AMH Material Handling, working in partnership with Yorkshire Packaging Systems and Audion Packaging Machines, was the integrator for the project.

As well as fulfilling the principal contractor role, AMH Material Handling carried out the system install, controls, testing and commissioning.

For further information on the retailer, visit www.sportsshoes.com

Photo: SportsShoes.com general manager, Louise Cartner (fourth from left), and her team in front of the semi-automated warehouse system

Check out the SportsShoes.com RIA Foundation Member profile here  .