Sustainability and environment

With Shelfless, small, medium, and large online stores can take a bigger step toward sustainability. Our goal is to become the most sustainable warehousing and logistics solution in our industry across the Nordics.

Automated storage ensures a minimal footprint

Shelfless reduces emissions in multiple ways: each warehouse operates with 100 to 200 employees working alongside robots and smart packaging machines powered by renewable energy. Solar panels, electricity, and heating from fossil-free sources often make our facilities energy self-sufficient.

The fully automated AutoStore system ensures that products are picked, packed, and ready for distribution at lightning speed as soon as an order is placed. Our packing machines minimize air and plastic in every shipment.

Compared to traditional warehouses, Shelfless facilities offer twice the storage capacity on the same footprint, allowing our customers to reduce their environmental impact through more efficient warehousing.

Developing innovative solutions

Shelfless is driving a range of digital innovations aimed at minimizing the climate footprint of e-commerce. One example is the ability to view the environmental impact of individual products, initially made available to online retailers.

“Our mission is to make data transparent for all our customers, a concept we call ‘data democratization.’ But ultimately, it’s up to the customers to decide how they want to act on this information,” says Saman Hadiani, Head of Digitalization at Shelfless.

If a product isn’t selling, retailers can choose to halt production or take more sustainable actions. In addition, we’re continuously developing smarter return solutions with lower environmental impact. Online stores can decide what happens to returned items based on condition, value, and other parameters, ensuring sustainability is built into every step of the logistics chain.

People first

While automation and innovation are essential, we want to emphasize that our employees are one of our most valuable assets. No warehouse can be fully automated, and it’s not the answer to every customer’s challenge.

That’s why all our facilities also offer manual handling as a complement to automation. For example, the largest products are often picked manually before being integrated into the automated flow.

It’s the robots that assist our employees, not the other way around. Every piece of technology we use is designed to enhance workplace health, safety, and environmental standards. Digitalization helps reduce the physical strain of heavy lifting, long transport routes, and minimizes the risk of injury. From this perspective, our automated systems are also a key environmental initiative.

The nordic region’s most sustainable logistics provider

Climate and environmental responsibility are guiding principles for Posten and Bring, who have worked systematically for years to reduce their carbon emissions. Since 2012, the group has cut its CO₂ emissions by 55%. This achievement hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2022, the group was named the Nordic region’s most sustainable logistics provider by The Financial Times.

“With Shelfless, we’re taking another step forward in our sustainability efforts. Our goal is to become the most sustainable warehousing and logistics solution in our industry across the Nordics,” says Catherine Löfquist, Head of Sustainability at Bring.

Bring currently operates nearly ten full-scale fulfillment centers across Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, collaborating seamlessly across borders. This allows online retailers to position their products closer to end customers, anywhere in the Nordics. As a result, businesses can expand into new markets while shortening transport routes and reducing climate emissions.

Expanding toward Europe and the global market

Over the coming years, Shelfless plans to open additional warehouses across the Nordics, bringing online retailers even closer to their end customers. While Shelfless is a local Nordic logistics solution at its core, its reach extends far beyond.

“We primarily operate in the Nordics, but we support customers with deliveries all over the world. Shelfless works with a wide range of carriers, allowing us to manage shipments locally, regionally, across the Nordics, and globally,” says Tobias Åbonde, Head of Shelfless at Bring. This expansion enables e-commerce businesses to grow across borders while maintaining fast, efficient, and sustainable logistics.