Frasers Group started as a small store in Maidenhead in 1982 and from there, grew to become a global powerhouse. As the business evolved, 2019 saw the rebrand of Sports Direct International to Frasers Group plc; a reflection of the Groups growth and change in market identity. Today, the Group commands an impressive £5+ billion annual retail business (FY 2024), operates over 1,300 retail locations across Europe, and reaches customers in more than 100 countries, supported by a dedicated global team of over 30,000 employees.
Frasers Group’s journey is driven by a bold vision: to create the planet’s most admired and compelling brand ecosystem of sports, fitness, premium lifestyle and luxury brands. An ambitious goal that demands completely rethinking customer experience, end-to-end.
How to scale sophisticated warehouse capabilities within the constraints of the existing distribution center in Shirebrook, UK. The site itself was impressive—spanning over 200,000 square meters and reaching 12 meters in height—but operations had been stretched to their limits. Space was fully utilized, manual processes dominated, and with every new retail location, brand acquisition and surge in e-Commerce, pressure was added to its operations.
Frasers Group needed a multilevel elevation strategy for future warehousing and distribution operations, and FORTNA was brought in to unlock scalable, high-performance fulfillment within the same footprint, with minimum disruption of ongoing operations.
Three challenges, one solution
When high performance is required within a limited footprint, every cubic meter must be utilized. In the case of the Frasers Group’s Shirebrook project, that meant unlocking the space above the AutoStore grids. On a dedicated mezzanine, over 100 Geekplus autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) operate seamlessly across one unified system to process three distinct groups of items: garment on hanger—stored and presented for picking by the AMRs on rails—and over 4,100 1.2 x 1.2 meter shelves that not only serve for processing non-conveyable items but also create a safe storage area for high-value inventory such as jewelry, watches and fragrances. At 12 GTP workstations, items are picked for both retail distribution and e-Commerce.
As the current transformation nears completion, Frasers Group is already realizing operational, business-critical gains. What began as an initiative to modernize a manual warehouse has evolved into one of the UK’s most advanced distribution centers—now a strategic asset driving Group-wide efficiency, cost rationalization and scalable growth. Frasers Group reduced gross stock holding by over £100 million ($134.6 m) year-over-year, an approximately 15% improvement in inventory efficiency, through tighter stock control, streamlined processes and centralized warehousing.
With automation now embedded across the facility, the new operational design has delivered a 40% reduction in labor required for picking, allowing redeployment of staff into other high-impact areas of the warehouse. The facility now supports 24/7 operations across three shifts, maintaining consistent throughput and service levels even during peak periods. With capacity to process up to 4 million units weekly across a footprint of over 200,000 square meters, the system is built to scale with demand and flex real-time to changing requirements.
The redesigned infrastructure has enabled the seamless integration of three additional business units, FRASERS, FLANNELS and Jack Wills, into the Shirebrook site. More importantly, it now aligns with Frasers Group’s fast-moving business model by scaling with demand, adapting to evolving storage and processing needs, and supporting both high-efficiency daily operations and long-term growth.