Inside the Hive warehouse for online sales located in Valencia

Mercadona starts construction work on its new online warehouse in Alicante with an investment of €14 million

27 july 2021
  •  25 suppliers are involved in the construction project, with some 150 people employed in the building phase.
  • This warehouse for managing and preparing online orders will join the company’s existing facilities in Valencia, Barcelona and Madrid.
  • The plan is to open this centre, internally referred to as a Hive, in mid-2022 with a workforce of over 340 people. 

Mercadona, a company of physical supermarket and online sales, has started construction work on its warehouse exclusively for online sales in Alicante, which will join the existing facilities in Valencia, Barcelona and Madrid. The new Hive (the term used internally by the company to refer to its online service warehouses) will be located on the Ocaña road, behind Mercalicante, and it will require an investment of more than €14 million. 25 suppliers are involved in the construction project, which will employ some 150 people. The warehouse, which will span 10,000 m2 on a 19,000 m2 plot of land, is expected to be launched by the middle of next year.

The plan is to use this Hive, where online orders will be managed and prepared, to provide the new service in the city of Alicante, and, depending on how the project progresses, the company plans to expand the service to other towns and cities in the province. The Alicante Hive will be operated by a team of approximately 340 people, including delivery staff and pickers.  

Sustainability and efficiency

The new online shopping service aims to improve the shopping experience for “The Boss” (customer) through the new website and mobile app, while also implementing significant structural changes to optimise the preparation and delivery processes. Transferring the preparation and shipment of orders to the Hive, instead of managing them one by one in store, will increase productivity and efficiency, and, ultimately, ensure a better service.

In addition, the fleet of vehicles used for Mercadona’s online service is comprised of gas-powered vehicles that can transport up to 15 orders. These vehicles have been exclusively designed with 3 temperature zones for different types of products: room temperature, refrigerated, and frozen. They also feature a mechanised unloading system that minimises the handling of loads, resulting in less strain on workers and shorter delivery times. 

Employees at the Getafe Hive (Madrid)Employees at the Getafe Hive (Madrid).

Inside the Hive warehouse for online sales located in ValenciaInside the Valencia Hive (Valencia).