Kesko selects Manhattan for grocery warehouse overhaul in Finland

Kesko chooses Manhattan for five distribution centres

Finnish retailer Kesko has selected Manhattan Associates’ Manhattan Active Warehouse to replace the existing warehouse management system serving its grocery business, BusinessCloud reports. The initial deployment will cover five distribution centres, putting the software at the centre of an operation that generated €6.5bn in net sales in 2025.

The agreement includes agentic AI capabilities through Manhattan Active Agents and Manhattan Agent Foundry, according to BusinessCloud. For Manhattan Associates, the selection secures a customer in Northern European grocery retail for a platform that combines cloud-native warehouse management with AI tools for operational execution.

A major Finnish grocery operation updates its infrastructure

BusinessCloud describes Kesko as Finland’s second-largest grocery brand and one of Northern Europe’s biggest. Its grocery business encompasses K-food stores and Kespro, giving the warehouse project a role in supporting an extensive trading network rather than a single retail format.

Kesko’s grocery division recorded comparable operating profit of €418m in 2025, BusinessCloud reports. The project comes as physical and digital retail become more closely connected, while grocery operators face more varied customer demands and pressure to deliver orders quickly and reliably.

Warehouse investment is also taking different commercial forms elsewhere in the sector. Market Entry Wire previously reported that THG Fulfil added an ownership option to its AutoStore partnership. That arrangement concerns warehouse automation rather than Kesko’s software replacement, but provides a separate example of how fulfilment businesses are developing their technology partnerships.

Kesko prioritises continuity and customer reliability

Pekka Tala, Kesko’s director of strategic programmes for grocery trade logistics, told BusinessCloud that the company wants a technology foundation it can develop without the disruption typically associated with major enterprise software upgrades. He also identified operational efficiency and new opportunities from agentic AI as objectives, rather than presenting them as benefits already achieved.

Tala linked the investment to customer retention. In his comments reported by BusinessCloud, he warned that customers can switch providers when orders fail to arrive on time and in full. His position puts dependable fulfilment, not simply warehouse productivity, at the heart of the business case.

Sebastien Lefebure, Manhattan Associates’ senior vice president for EMEA, told BusinessCloud that retailers increasingly see warehouse projects as a way to distinguish themselves from competitors. He argued that ongoing cloud-platform development and AI embedded in supply-chain execution would help set expectations for the next generation of warehouse systems. That is the supplier’s assessment, not evidence of measured results from Kesko’s deployment.

AI agents and a new site shape the next phase

Kesko expects to introduce Manhattan’s Wave Coordinator, Labour and Warehouse Associate Agents, according to BusinessCloud. It will also explore using Agent Foundry to develop additional agents for inbound operations. Those potential additions remain exploratory; the reported plans do not establish that they have been commissioned or deployed.

Beyond the first five distribution centres, the programme is intended to extend to a greenfield site in 2029–30 and include terminal hub operations. Tala told BusinessCloud that interpreting operational signals and responding to them in real time would be important across that footprint.

For warehouse technology suppliers seeking European customers, the procurement priorities are concrete: operational continuity, scope to support new facilities and AI that addresses identifiable logistics tasks. BusinessCloud’s report gives no contract value, initial deployment date or quantified savings target, leaving the project’s commercial returns and implementation pace to be assessed as the rollout progresses.