BRONX, NY – FreshDirect, the Northeast’s leading online fresh food grocer, today announced that it will be enhancing its service offering to the Washington D.C. Metro Area, enlarging its service footprint and adding on-demand delivery, through a new partnership with global micro-fulfillment leader Fabric. Launching in late 2020, this partnership will leverage Fabric’s robotic fulfillment technology to enable 2-hour on-demand delivery of a wide selection of FreshDirect’s assortment to D.C. customers.
Employing a hub-and-spoke operational structure, with its primary facility remaining at its Bronx, NY headquarters, FreshDirect believes this relationship will serve as a blueprint for future service upgrades as they eye other parts of the country. To that end, this first foray into the automated micro-fulfillment space will drive critical efficiencies, enabling faster service and a substantial increase in order volume capacity.
“Washington D.C. has always been an important market for FreshDirect, and we are excited to partner with Fabric to meet the current surge in demand while improving the customer experience,” said David McInerney, FreshDirect CEO. “Fabric’s technology will allow us to turn our existing regional facilities into high-velocity automated distribution centers, speeding our expansion into new markets with 2-hour on-demand delivery.”
Designed to meet every customers’ needs, the new upgrades will be rolled out across FreshDirect’s D.C. Metro delivery footprint which spans the Washington D.C., Silver Spring/Potomac and Vienna/Dulles areas. This service will enable customers to order from a wide selection of high-quality fresh food and grocery items within a 2-hour window, in addition to the existing next-day service.
“FreshDirect is the pioneer of grocery e-commerce in the United States,” said Elram Goren, Co-founder and CEO of Fabric. “Now with Fabric’s robotic micro-fulfillment technology, purpose-built for on-demand fulfillment, they are positioned to best serve their Washington D.C. customers profitably and at scale. We are thrilled to announce this strategic partnership as one of the first steps in Fabric’s continued expansion across the United States.”
About FreshDirect:
FreshDirect is the Northeast’s leading online fresh food grocer, delivering directly to customers throughout seven states, including the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, and the District of Columbia. FreshDirect is committed to sourcing the freshest and best-tasting meat, fish, produce, and specialty items through direct relationships with suppliers, growers, and farmers. Launched in 2002, FreshDirect is a privately held company headquartered in Bronx, NY. Wines & Spirits are sold by FreshDirect Wines & Spirits, an independently owned store with NY State License #1277181.
About Fabric:
Fabric makes profitable on-demand e-commerce a reality. Its flexible micro-fulfillment solution was specifically designed to enable fast fulfillment from small spaces. By leveraging robotic automation, Fabric allows retailers to reduce costs and cut fulfillment times.
Unlike any other micro-fulfillment solution, Fabric’s software-led robotics and modular approach gives retailers the flexibility to build the fulfillment center that fits their requirements, allowing them to fulfill online orders at maximum speed while ensuring profitability. Retailers can choose a platform model to run and operate independently on their real estate or a service model in which fulfillment is offered as a service, with minimal capex investment.
Founded in 2015, Fabric has raised $138 million to date and is backed by Aleph, Corner Ventures, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Innovation Endeavors, La Maison, Playground Ventures, and Temasek. With offices in New York City and Tel Aviv, Fabric is rapidly expanding its U.S. operations with over 170+ team members globally and 15 sites under development/contract, including two live micro-fulfillment centers.
