Case Study: Jack Wolfskin achieves international expansion and 24/7 automated warehouse operations with NetApp storage

How Retailer Jack Wolfskin Expanded into International Markets—Without Increasing IT Budget, IT Staffing Levels, or Carbon Footprint

Jack Wolfskin, a leading European outdoor apparel and equipment retailer, needed to modernize its distribution center to support international expansion into China, the UK, and Russia. The company faced the challenge of replacing manual, fax-based order processes with 24/7 automated sorting and picking—without increasing IT budget, headcount, or carbon footprint—and required very low latency and zero downtime for its warehouse control systems.

Jack Wolfskin built a virtualized warehouse platform using NetApp storage, HP servers, and Microsoft Windows Server/Hyper-V, plus NetApp MetroCluster, Flash Cache, and SnapManager for high availability and efficient backups. The result: more than 70% of applications virtualized, 20% year-over-year growth without added IT staff, shipments up 86% (597k to 1.1M), capacity to handle 73% more daily items, zero downtime since 2009, ~50% lower power/CO2, 70% lower storage hardware costs, and dramatically faster order intake and picking.

Jack Wolfskin

Severin Canisius

Senior Manager IT