Dive Brief:
- Dollar Tree is servicing more than 600 Dollar Tree and combo stores with rotacart deliveries from its distribution center in West Memphis, Arkansas, according to a Q2 earnings call.
- The discount retailer is also using the technology to deliver to roughly 300 stores from its Chesapeake, Virginia, distribution center, COO Mike Creedon told analysts.
- By the end of 2025, Dollar Tree expects to provide rotacart deliveries from four distribution centers to more than 2,000 stores, including an additional 150 from the West Memphis facility, Creedon said.
Dive Insight:
Dollar Tree began rolling out rotacarts in 2023 as part of its strategy to streamline deliveries and reduce unloading times.
Following the rollout, the company provided rotacart deliveries from a Matthews, North Carolina, facility and started to test the technology at its Chesapeake facility, according to a March 13 earnings call.
Dollar Tree is also focused on efficiencies elsewhere in its supply chain. As far as modernization efforts, the retailer’s “new warehouse management system went live at its first two DCs, with two more slated for early next year,” Creedon shared.
The company has also joined other retailers in preparing for President Joe Biden’s recently finalized tariffs on China-made goods.
“In the event of any meaningful change to the current tariff regime, we have long-standing contingency plans to diversify our supply chain in a timely and cost-effective manner,” Creedon said. “We also have the flexibility to adjust product specs and price points to address any changes in the market.”
