thansen was founded in 1991 in Denmark and delivers spare parts and equipment to cars and other vehicles, as well as camping equipment and other recreational gear to customers in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Germany.
Customers can look forward to ordering a product online and pick it up directly at the store almost immediately – and at any time of the day. And soon, the same will be possible in other thansen stores.
“With the store located just outside of Copenhagen, we are taking the first, but far from the last step towards the ultimate customer experience, where you as a customer can buy and pick up your goods at any time of the day. No queue, no fixed opening hours. That’s the future, and we are as a chain starting the future now,” says founder and CEO at thansen, Bent Jensen about the store, which was officially inaugurated February 2nd, 2024.
"With the store located just outside of Copenhagen, we are taking the first, but far from the last step towards the ultimate customer experience, where you as a customer can buy and pick up your goods at any time of the day. No queue, no fixed opening hours. That's the future, and we are as a chain starting the future now"
“We’re starting in Rødovre. But the plan is to implement similar systems in ten of our stores over the course of 2024,” he adds.
Consumers Push the Boundaries
The AutoStore solution implemented by Element Logic in thansen’s new store consists of 14 robots and more than 18,000 bins.
Despite the modest size of the warehouse, it contains more than 32,000 of thansen’s 200,000 items, as the warehouse allows for much more efficient use of storage space. This means that customers get access to a much broader range of goods directly in the store, as the goods do not need to be ordered from a central warehouse first.
Element Logic has previously delivered Denmark’s largest automated warehouse, with 100 robots to thansen’s central warehouse in Middelfart.
“With the system in Rødovre, thansen is moving the robots directly out into the individual store, which is somewhat of a paradigm shift. Consumers are constantly pushing the boundaries for delivery times and the degree of flexibility, and as a company, you cannot meet these demands without thinking in terms of smart, automatic solutions,” says Nikolaj Bjørn Eriksen, Managing Director of Element Logic Denmark.
"With the system in Rødovre, thansen is moving the robots directly out into the individual store, which is somewhat of a paradigm shift. Consumers are constantly pushing the boundaries for delivery times and the degree of flexibility, and as a company, you cannot meet these demands without thinking in terms of smart, automatic solutions"