FRANCE: Carrefour opens dedicated drive DC | Progresiv
Carrefour France has started developing a DC dedicated to its Drive network, due to open in early 2017. Dubbed PPC (Plate-forme de preparation de comande) the facility has been set-up in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, south-west of Lyon in a former Dia warehouse and supplies some 20 attached or stand-alone Drive locations. 
The move has been undertaken in an attempt to further streamline the retailer’s Drive supply chain which mainly relies on in-store picking, a system that Carrefour is still challenged to render feasible.
The DC is supposed to handle volumes that would justify a partial automation of the facility and gradually facilitate an increase of its Drive assortment while at the same time relaxing the operational complexity incurred by the stores which offer the service.
The dedicated DC initiative follows the unsatisfying results of a 2014 initiative of Carrefour to set-up 13 Drive hubs that supplied attached or stand-alone Drive locations. Six of these were shut-down at the end of 2015. (www.kantarretailiq.eu)
