Case study

Unifying omnichannel fulfillment for American Eagle

American Eagle Outfitters + VARGO®

American Eagle Outfitters is a global apparel and accessories brand serving retail and e-commerce customers worldwide. AEO aimed to streamline fulfillment across both channels using a unified fulfillment system. The result was faster delivery, greater efficiency, and a scalable framework to support continuous growth.

AEO Hero

One inventory pool serving retail and e-commerce

2-HR

Service level agreement

99+%

Unit sorter utilization

540K

Retailer capacity per unit

750K

E-commerce capacity per unit

The challenge

The demand of omnichannel growth

AEO needed to serve its fast-moving, digitally savvy customers with speed and precision across both e-commerce and retail channels. As online order volumes increased, the retailer’s legacy fulfillment systems struggled to keep pace.

  • Process high-volume Direct-to-Consumer orders alongside store replenishment
  • Accelerate delivery times
  • Increase operational throughput
  • Eliminate duplicate inventory
  • Improve labor efficiency
By the numbers
1M

square foot distribution center

12M

units of active inventory

50,000+

SKUs managed

70 MIN

order processing time

15–35 year-old digital shoppers expect “buy now, ship now.” AEO needed to make fulfillment as fast and seamless as the shopping experience itself.

The solution

Waveless fulfillment, unified operations

VARGO® designed AEO’s omnichannel fulfillment center in Hazle Township, Pennsylvania, powered by COFE®, a real-time Warehouse Execution System that enables continuous processing. Unlike batch “wave” systems that release orders in large intervals, COFE® evaluates every incoming order as it arrives.

01

Real-time order evaluation

Every incoming order is prioritized by customer need, shipping priority, and inventory position.

02

Dynamic prioritization

High-priority orders move to the front of the queue for faster turnaround.

03

All-active inventory

Every SKU can fulfill both retail and online orders from one pool.

04

Unified labor and routing

COFE® orchestrates labor, routing, and allocation without increasing headcount.

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Design & implementation

Automation unified under one execution layer

Through COFE®, automation technologies were integrated and synchronized to deliver a unified, seamless fulfillment process from receiving through shipping.

Technologies integrated

Knapp shuttleDematic RapidStore AS/RSOPEX® Sure Sort® automated putwallsBeumer cross-belt sorterManhattan WMS

The results

Faster. Smarter. Unified.

Even during major peak seasons, the new facility processed as many orders in six days as it once did in three months, all while maintaining service-level accuracy and customer satisfaction.

Scaling without expanding footprint

Today, AEO continues to scale by integrating robotics and automated storage systems under COFE®, increasing capacity without expanding labor or footprint.

See fulfillment execution in action

Schedule an operational assessment, explore a COFE® demo, or visit a reference site.