Stavanger, Norway – January 25, 2023 –
Mystore, the largest Norwegian online shopping platform, is joined by Pio, which develops robotic warehouses and is part of AutoStore, as a strategic partner. The aim of the collaboration is to accelerate the transition from manual to automated warehouses among small and medium-sized online stores.

- In competition with larger players and physical stores, it is crucial for online stores to be able to deliver goods quickly enough to the end customer. Robot warehouses from Pio are helping to facilitate this for Mystore's customers, says Commercial Director for Mystore, Lars Tveiten.

- We have the logistics solution and Pio has the storage solution. That makes Pio a perfect partner for us, says Tveiten.

The collaboration has already resulted in the clothing stores Vakre Vene and Ko:Ko changing storage solutions.

- Now with Pio, we have a super-efficient warehouse that is integrated with Mystore. We’re thrilled that Mystore can offer such a service, says Øyvind Rekkedal, CEO of Ko:ko.

Equal conditions of competition

Established by AutoStore in 2021, Pio offers a simplified warehouse automation solution aimed at the SME segment. According to Pio, the transition from manual to automated warehouses is not only about increasing volume, but also about remaining profitable while growing.

- Apart from Pio, there are no players focusing on warehouse automation for the SME segment. We are concerned that smaller businesses should also be able to reap the benefits of automation, and we believe that this will provide more even competition between large and small companies, says Magne Hatteland, general manager of Pio.

- This and other strategic collaborations will help to make automated warehouses available to more people, says Hatteland.

Many of the small and medium-sized online retailers who use Mystore today face a difficult competitive situation where large technology giants dominate the market. This places increasingly high demands on efficient operation.

- If you have a manual warehouse, you will not be able to achieve the same efficiency as operators with automated warehouses. Our customers experience that we take the trends in the market seriously, and that as an e-commerce platform we make good arrangements for it to be possible to start up and succeed with stores, says Tveiten.

Newly available in North America, Pio's innovative pay-per-pick implementation of world-leading AutoStore cube storage technology targets new market for automation

Stavanger, Norway and New York City – January 10, 2023 – AutoStore, the world’s leading warehouse automation company, announces the North American launch of Pio (“Product In/Out”), a plug-and-play version of acclaimed AutoStore cube storage technology tailored for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). 

Based on a pay-per-pick service model, Pio allows SMBs, such as retailers of apparel, sporting goods, crafts, and cosmetics, to deploy robotic automation for a relatively low investment – enabling more businesses to gain access to the world’s best automation technology.

“We established Pio to make our technology available to smaller businesses,” said Mats Hovland Vikse, CEO of AutoStore. “Only 15 percent of the world’s warehouses are automated, and fulfillment operations at smaller retailers are still largely manual. Pio levels the playing field so that enterprises of all sizes can take advantage of the space and cost efficiencies of automated storage and distribution systems.”

Retailers pay a fee per individual item picked; robots, ports, and software are owned and maintained by Pio. Users need only purchase product bins and the frames that the robots run on. A Pio facility is modular and scalable and runs on standard plug-and-play software that connects to the most common online retail and shipping platforms. In effect, Pio lets small and medium-sized business compete against much larger ones, with minimal capital expense, added labor, or need for additional floor space.

"Never before has the option for a fully automated storage and retrieval system been offered to the SMB segment – and certainly not with robotic technology that has been proven through multitudes of successful installations around the world for over 20 years," says Magne Hatteland, VP and Head of Pio. "With Pio, you can expand without having to move, enabling users to run their businesses closer to customers. We are already seeing success with Pio systems operating at several high-profile retailers in Europe. Now that the system is available in North America, we are ready to support fast-growing independent retailers here as well."

Pio and AutoStore will be at NRF 2023: Retail’s Big Show at the Javits Center in New York City from January 15-17. Pio will be exhibiting at Booth #952 and AutoStore at Booth #325. More information is available here.