Boots

Boost capacity and enhance productivity

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Health & Beauty

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Numbers

100%

Recycled boots branded cardboard

43M

Products per year

30%

Reduction of cardboard usage

Benefits

Reduce of the transport journeys
Positive environmental impact
Increase customer experience
Efficiently respond to sudden high demands

Challenges

Boots.com is a fast-expanding part of the Boosts’ business, supported by an advanced ecommerce fulfilment centre in Burton. Preparing online orders for home delivery or in-store collection demands highly efficient order picking and packing processes.

Ian Murfin, Customer Relationship Manager at Boots, explains: “In order to support the fast growth in online sales, we wanted a packaging solution that would increase efficiency, boost capacity and enhance the productivity of our labour force.”

After a review of the latest packaging technology available, Boots took the decision to invest in two state-of-the-art automated packing machines from Sparck Technologies that tailor-make parcels at high-speed. Sparck’s CVP Impack is unique in that it has the potential to construct bespoke individual cardboard boxes to the exact size of an ordered item at the rate of up to of 500 boxes per hour – combining multiple items, as required.

Tracey Clements

COO for Boots in the
UK and Ireland

Packing automation is not only supporting our supply chain but also ensuring that we can continue to meet the needs of all our customers.”

Sparck Technologies Boots custom packaging

Solution

The CVP Impack systems have genuinely revolutionised the packaging process for Boots.com, helping the business to meet the high demand for online orders. The installation of the two CVP Impack machines took place in late September 2019, just in time for the Black Friday season. Following the installation, Boots has also been able to reduce the transport journeys – a significant cost saving and environmental benefit.

There are important customer benefits too. By creating custom sized packaging for each order, the customer receives a compact, right-sized box, which is more convenient to carry, eliminates ‘consumer distress’ over wasteful packaging and delivers a positive environmental message. A further advantage of the fit-to-size cardboard packaging is a snug fit to the product, which prevents items moving around, providing better protection without the need for bubble-wrap or void-fill.

However, perhaps the most unforeseen benefit of the investment in Sparck’s technology has been Boots’ ability to respond efficiently to the sudden demands placed upon the business through the boom in online orders following the COVID-19 lockdown.

Boots is the UK’s largest pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer with over 2,500 stores in the UK, ranging from community pharmacies to large destination health and beauty stores. Boots is the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer.

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Boots

100%

43M

30%

Packing automation is not only supporting our supply chain but also ensuring that we can continue to meet the needs of all our customers.”

Monta