Wildberries bets on warehouse robots to accelerate marketplace operations

The Wildberries e-commerce giant has stepped up its use of robots to boost efficiency amid growing demand.

Warehouse automation has been a key competitive advantage in the retail sector, with the adoption of robots – or programmed systems that can carry out advanced tasks requiring flexibility and adaptation – becoming the latest trend among the world’s online retail giants.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where e-commerce had been slower to take hold but boomed during the Covid-19 pandemic, a major online marketplace is stepping up its use of robots and testing new technologies to increase efficiency at its logistics centers.

Wildberries, an e-commerce platform that operates in nine countries across Eurasia, began testing "robo-hands" in its warehouses this March. These special types of robots use suction-cup fingers to move parcels from the conveyor line to the sorting system to assist humans in sorting, with ground-based robots moving the shelves from the storage area to the picker. The robots’ machine vision ensures that items are properly positioned to avoid damage and safeguards human workers in the warehouse.

“The more efficient the logistics processes that support sales, the more satisfied the customers and the more successful the business,” according to Wildberries’ Director of Warehouse Automation, Andrey Ulyanov.

Over the past year, Wildberries has been testing and rolling out robotic technology systems in its warehouse operations to speed up the sorting process, cut down on warehouse load and reduce human involvement in labor-intensive processes.

The company has created an in-house design bureau that adapts existing technologies to its needs while also creating its own solutions — including automated ground vehicles (AGVs) that move shelves using sensors and software developed by Wildberries.

This robotics push comes as e-commerce players jostle to out-compete each other in customer convenience and keep up with steadily growing demand for online shopping.

Wildberries, a Russia-based platform that is privately owned and merged with an advertising company last year, announced that its capital expenditure was set to double in 2025 to more than $3 billion, including investments in logistics and IT infrastructure.

At the three largest Wildberries warehouses — two in the Moscow region and one in the Krasnodar region, which together account for a quarter of the company’s logistics capacity — more than 230 AGVs, forklifts, and industrial robots are currently in operation, moving goods between conveyor lines.

More than 40,000 parcels are collected from this robotic storage area daily, with robotised sorting systems delivering a fourfold acceleration of the sorting process compared to manual labor, according to the company. This is no small efficiency gain, considering that a single Wildberries warehouse can store up to 150 million items.

The robots are part of the company’s long-term automation strategy, which has seen it integrate AI and advanced technology into the majority of key logistics and business processes. Wildberries also offers its automated solutions to B2B customers under the brand WB Automation.

Despite all the recent gains in robotics, however, the company believes that a world with fully robotised processes is still a long way off. Instead, it’s betting on a hybrid approach where humans and machines coexist and complement each other.

“We believe that around 50% of processes can be automated and robotised, while the rest will demand human involvement in tasks that that don’t lend themselves to full programmatic control,” Ulyanov said.

“In this context, technology serves a supporting function while people remain an integral part of the process, ensuring safety and reliability.”

Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

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