BY DAVID MALONEY, CHIEF EDITOR
ORDER FULFILLMENT
Strategy
MOST DISTRIBUTORS EVENTUALLY REALIZE THAT
only so much can be accomplished with manual operations. Sooner or later, volume reaches a point where
companies can no longer handle seasonal peaks by simply
throwing more labor at the problem. The Container Store
reached that place about a year and a half ago.
“We’ve been in continual growth since we started 38
years ago,” says Amy Carovillano, vice president of logis-To understand what brought the company to that
juncture, it helps to know a little about The Container
Store’s business. Since its founding in 1978, the company
has grown into the nation’s largest specialty retailer of
home organization and storage systems, selling containers
of all shapes and sizes as well as organizational solutions
like its custom closet system. The retailer, whose business
peaks around the holidays and during back-to-school
season, now operates 90 stores as well as a fast-growing
direct-to-consumer e-commerce business.
