RETAIL & E-COMMERCE STORAGE SOLUTIONS UK
Stockroom racking, pick towers, longspan shelving and pick-and-pack mezzanines for UK high-street retailers, e-commerce brands and 3PL fulfilment operations. CAD-led design, fast install, peak-ready throughput.
Storage That Keeps Up With Your Order Profile
Retail and e-commerce storage is unforgiving. Peak weeks deliver months of order volume in days. SKU counts run into the thousands. Pickers walk miles per shift. And every minute of stockroom inefficiency costs sales — either through stockouts on the shop floor or missed cut-offs in the fulfilment centre.
UM Storage Systems designs storage for UK retailers and e-commerce operations of every shape: single-store stockrooms behind a high-street unit, multi-floor fulfilment mezzanines, 3PL fulfilment hubs, returns processing centres and click-and-collect dark stores. Every project is CAD-led, peak-ready and built to flex with your order profile.
We work with independent retailers, regional chains, national brands and pure-play e-commerce. Free site survey, fixed-price quote within 24 hours, install scheduled around your trading calendar.
Storage Systems for Every Retail Operation
Longspan / Wide-Bay Shelving
The stockroom workhorse. Hand-load, fast-pick, easy-reconfigure shelving for clothing, accessories, footwear, general merchandise and small-pack goods.
Pick Towers & Mezzanines
Multi-tier pick floors that double or triple your usable area. Conveyor and chute interface for high-volume e-commerce dispatch.
Pallet Racking for Bulk Stock
Adjustable pallet racking for bulk replen, returns staging and back-of-store reserve. Combined with hand-load shelving for the pick face.
Garment Hanging Storage
Garment rails, hanging garment racking and dual-purpose carcassing — for clothing retailers, fashion fulfilment and bridal.
Returns Processing
Returns reception, sortation, QC and re-stock zones — designed for the reverse-logistics flow that defines modern e-commerce.
Click & Collect / Dark Stores
Pick-face racking, collection cages, last-mile staging and customer-collection counters. PCI and brand-aware finishes.
Choosing the Right System for Your Order Profile
Retail and e-commerce storage decisions are driven by SKU count, pick rate, pack profile and seasonality. This is the framework we use on retail site surveys.
| Stock / Application | Recommended System | Specification Note |
|---|---|---|
| Apparel / footwear stockroom | Longspan + Garment Hang | Mixed shelving and hanging, fast-pick |
| Health & beauty / small unit | Longspan Shelving (bin-front) | High SKU density, small picks |
| Home & DIY | Pallet Racking + Longspan | Bulk replen + hand-pick face |
| Pure-play e-commerce <1k SKUs | Longspan + Pick Carts | Wave-pick, batch dispatch |
| Pure-play e-commerce 1k–10k SKUs | Mezzanine Pick Tower | Multi-tier hand-pick with chute |
| Pure-play e-commerce >10k SKUs | Mezzanine + GTP / WMS-led | Goods-to-person zone, conveyor |
| Returns processing | Longspan + Sort Benches | Sort, QC, repack, restock or dispose |
| Click & collect / dark store | Pick-Face Longspan + Cages | Customer-facing finish, secure cages |
Pick Towers: The Engine of UK E-Commerce
A pick tower is a multi-tier mezzanine designed around picking flow — usually two or three floors of hand-load shelving connected by conveyor or chute, with a dispatch lane on the ground floor. Compared to single-storey pick zones, a pick tower delivers 2–3× the pick locations per square metre of footprint, with dramatically shorter walk distances per order.
We design pick towers around your specific SKU profile and order mix — slotting fast-movers within reach on the dispatch floor, mediums on tier 2, slows on tier 3. Conveyor interface, chute dispatch, weight checks and tote handling are coordinated with your WMS and dispatch carrier integrations.
Peak-Ready Design — Black Friday, Boxing Day and Beyond
UK retail and e-commerce live or die by peak. A storage layout that handles 1× volume comfortably can collapse at 4–5× — congested aisles, missed cut-offs, lost margin. We design every retail layout around your peak-week profile, not your average, with deliberate slack: empty pick locations for surge SKUs, wave-staging space for batch-pick days, returns reception sized for January.
Where peak demand is genuinely huge, we phase the build — install your steady-state layout first, then add mezzanine, pick tower or extra racking before peak. One supplier, one design language, one accountable team across the whole programme.
Why Retail & E-Commerce Choose UM Storage Systems
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best shelving for a retail stockroom?
For most UK retail stockrooms, wide-bay longspan shelving is the right answer — hand-load, fast to reconfigure, accommodates mixed SKU sizes, and supports bin-front, dividers and label strips for first-time-pick accuracy. We typically combine longspan for the pick face with pallet racking for bulk replen behind.
What is a pick tower and do I need one?
A pick tower is a multi-tier mezzanine designed around picking — usually two or three floors of shelving with conveyor or chute connection to a dispatch lane. You need one once your single-storey pick zone runs out of locations or the walk distances per order become the dominant cost. Most pure-play e-commerce operations cross that threshold somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000 active SKUs.
Can you install around our trading calendar?
Yes. Retail installs are scheduled around your operation — nights, weekends, store-closed days, and pre-peak phasing. We work with retailers ranging from independent boutiques to national chains and major UK e-commerce platforms.
How much does a fulfilment mezzanine cost?
UK pick-tower mezzanines typically run £180–£300 per square metre of mezzanine floor area installed (including stairs, handrails, fire protection and Building Regs sign-off) — a fraction of the cost of relocating to a larger unit. Final price depends on UDL rating, height, fire spec and interface with conveyor or chute systems.
Can you handle the returns area too?
Yes — returns processing is one of the highest-pressure zones in modern UK e-commerce. We design return reception, QC, sortation, repack, restock and disposal flows alongside the main pick layout, sized to handle peak-week return volumes (typically 30–50% of January order volume in apparel).
Do you do dark-store and click-and-collect storage?
Yes. Dark stores and click-and-collect points use a hybrid of pick-face longspan, secure customer-collection cages and last-mile staging — usually with brand-aware finishes because customer or driver eyes will see them. We've delivered click-and-collect points for national retailers and grocery operations.
Other Sectors We Serve
READY TO OPTIMISE YOUR WAREHOUSE?
Get in touch today for a free, no-obligation consultation. Our team will assess your requirements and provide a tailored solution.