5 retailers who’ve suffered warehouse woes

Retailers have had their fair share of misadventures with their warehouses in recent years.

 

The fire at Asos’ distribution centre in Yorkshire is the second time the retailer has suffered damage to one of its warehouses.

 

An explosion at the Buncefield oil depot near to its former site in Hemel Hempstead in 2005 forced the online retailer to suspend trading.

 

But it is not alone. A fair few other retailers have been hit with supply issues over the years.

 

The Superdry owner was forced to issue a profit warning in October 2011 after problems with an  upgrade to its IT system at its warehouse in Gloucester left stores short of stock.

 

The retailer had installed a new stock management system to “increase capacity and efficiency”. But instead the group was left without enough sizes and items on its shelves. It also had to rent extra warehouse space, which overall cost the group £9m in profits. 

 

Online grocer Ocado complained in 2011 that “capacity constraints” at its Hatfield distribution centre in Hertfordshire had held the group back from fulfilling more orders and slowed sales growth.

 

The group has since opened a second £200m warehouse in Warwickshire which it shares with Morrisons and is currently looking for a third site. 

 

Halfords was hit with delivery problems after launching a new state-of-the art warehouse in Coventry in 2010. The bike-to-car parts retailers suffered a slowdown in sales over the summer months as a result of what it called “teething problems”.

 

Sony was forced to remake millions of CDs after the company’s main distribution centre in north London was burned down during the riots of Augusy 2011.

 

Sony looked after the stock of more than 150 record labels at the 215,000 square feet warehouse and stored DVDs as well as discs for Playstation games. London Mayor Boris Johnson, who is responsible for policing issues, had to pay out £75m in compensation claims.