Woolworths plans additional online fulfilment centre in Sydney's south

Woolworths is proposing to construct a new online customer fulfilment centre in Sydney’s southern suburbs, which it hopes will be operational in late 2022.

Credit: WooliesX

The company’s digital arm WooliesX said that the new centre would be built in Caringbah and was needed “to keep pace with customer expectations and demand”.

“[It] will allow us to offer more delivery windows and an even more reliable service to our online shoppers,” WooliesX said in a LinkedIn post. 

“Plans also include dedicated pick-up bays with a direct to boot service for customers who prefer to collect online orders themselves.”

WooliesX said that, if approved, the centre “would offer customers spanning from Kurnell to Engadine access to more than 15,000 extra home delivery and direct-to-boot pick-up windows each week, including many on a same-day basis.”

The project still requires planning approval, but WooliesX said the centre would “support up to 400 full-time equivalent roles and around 250 jobs during construction.”

“Construction is expected to commence in early 2022 ahead of an operational launch later in the year,” the retailer said.

Customer fulfilment centres are “purpose built facilities to support processing online orders”, according to an explainer.

They were introduced to cater to the change in buying habits that has occurred as a result of the pandemic, with many more customers shopping online than before.