MFC Terms and Definitions

A micro fulfillment center or MFC is defined as an automated fulfillment center used by ecommerce businesses to store their inventory closer to the end consumer. Their structure size typically ranges from 10,000 to 20,000 square feet, with some as small as 5,000 square feet. MFCs can be co-housed inside an existing retail store, grocery store, or placed in a smaller warehouse space in an urban location.

A nano fulfillment center or NFC is a smaller than traditional warehouse and are typically located in much-smaller spaces within urban areas, averaging approximately 10,000 square feet. They offer retailers short delivery times because of their proximity to customers but have a limited number of products because of the smaller physical space. Nano fulfillment centers have limited hours of operation but support peak hours of demand.

Unknown next day orders are unplanned or unexpected orders for same- or next-day delivery.

Remote automated dispense (RAD) is a term favored by Walmart for their small format, automated dispense systems. They are located close to customers to solve the speed of delivery ‘last mile’ problem. They can contain three temperature zones and automatically dispense order to the customer when they arrive at a kiosk. Think convenient neighborhood ATM for your groceries. The RADS are fulfilled from MFC’s, Dark Stores or CFCs typically via van.

Orders per day is the number of orders sold by a store on a daily basis. This is an important metric used for sizing an order fulfillment automation system.

Ocado’s brand name for their fulfillment system for operating online grocery businesses.

A market distribution center (MDC) is a geographically local distribution center (DC) that is part of the Novastore architecture.

A local fulfillment center is compact, modular warehouse built within, or added to, a store. This term was used by Walmart, but was replaced with “market fulfillment center”. Others may use micro-fulfillment center (MFC) as an analogous term. It includes an automated replenishment system to provide automated picking of orders, storage and dispense at the store level.

Known next day orders are customer’s grocery orders received the day prior to delivery or customer pickup.

Goods to person is used to describe a traditional method of filling orders that delivers product to an order picker or customer at a retail pick-up location. This can also be referred to as a “goods-to-picker” system.