Rethink Retail
Rethink Retail
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Is Micro-Fulfillment the Winning Strategy in the US?
Online now makes up more than 19% of US grocery sales, and most of those orders are still picked off store shelves. That gets grocers online quickly, but it brings missing items, substitutions, and picking that’s hard to speed up or automate. Petr Lizner (Veloq & Rohlik Group) and Dalibor Patek (Rohlik Group) joined Jeremy Goldman at Groceryshop to discuss when micro-fulfillment makes sense for US grocers, and what it takes to make it pay off. INSIDE THE EPISODE: Volume decides when to move Moving fulfillment into a dedicated space beside the store, covering 70 to 80% of the assortment, gives grocers more control over accuracy and speed while the store handles the rest. Around 300 online orders a day is a reasonable point to start exploring it, and around 600 is when automation enters the conversation. Geography matters too. Delivery suits dense markets like the Northeast, while pickup remains popular across the more spread-out Midwest. Automation is only half the investment Grocers tend to focus on choosing the right robots and underestimate what it takes to run them. Staffing, inventory, picking, and last-mile delivery all have to work together every day, and that coordination is where many operations fall short. Rohlik Group spent 12 years building those systems, a reminder of how much of the work sits beyond the hardware. Consistency is the real test A fulfillment site built around its best-case capacity can look strong on paper and still disappoint customers daily. Some grocers new to online have seen double-digit error rates on orders, while experienced operators like Rohlik hold errors below 1%. Hidden costs shape the experience too. In the US, tips and fees that rise with order size can discourage bigger baskets. Listen above to hear what changes when grocers treat fulfillment as a driver of growth.
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