Manhattan Wins Kesko Mandate as Nordic Retail Giant Bets on Cloud-Native, AI-Driven Warehousing

The Nordic retail giant is replacing its grocery trade legacy warehouse management system with the industry’s leading, cloud-native warehouse management solution, including agentic AI capabilities delivered through ActiveAgents™ and Agent Foundry .

For Finland’s second largest grocery brand, and one of the biggest in Northern Europe, the investment reflects the growing strategic importance of operational agility, as digital and physical retail become increasingly interconnected and a broader shift taking place across retail logistics more generally.

The scale of Kesko’s grocery trade makes the project noteworthy in Finnish and European retail. In 2025, the division’s net sales amounted to EUR 6.5 billion, and its comparable operating profit was EUR 418 million. Together, K-food stores and Kespro form an extensive grocery trade business.

“Our aim is to create a warehouse and technology foundation that evolves without the disruption traditionally associated with enterprise software upgrades, while also leveraging the transformative power of agentic AI to gain operational efficiencies and unlock previously unseen opportunities,” commented Pekka Tala, Director Strategic Programs, Grocery Trade Logistics at Kesko.

The significance of Kesko’s decision extends beyond infrastructure, however, as retailers face increasingly fragmented consumer demands and rising expectations for rapid, reliable fulfilment. “If you break an on-time-in-full promise, a customer will simply find an alternative, which sets the stakes high,” Tala added.

“Initially covering five distribution centres, followed by a greenfield site (in 2029-30), plus a range of terminal hub operations, being able to interpret and act on operational signals in real time is key for us,” finished Tala.

Kesko expects to deploy Manhattan's Wave Coordinator, Labour, and Warehouse Associate Agents while exploring additional purpose-built agents to support additional inbound operations with Agent Foundry.

Sebastien Lefebure, Senior Vice President, EMEA at Manhattan continued: “Retailers are increasingly viewing warehouse projects as an opportunity for competitive differentiation. This project represents more than the simple replacement of a legacy WMS; it is an opportunity to drive competitive advantage.

“The continuous innovation delivered by Manhattan’s cloud-native platform, coupled with the functional power of AI embedded in the execution layer of supply chains is increasingly becoming the benchmark against which next-generation supply chain platforms will be measured, and Kesko is at the forefront of the application of this technology in the Nordic grocery space,” Lefebure finished.

About Manhattan Associates

Manhattan Associates is a global technology leader, providing supply chain and omnichannel commerce solutions with unmatched AI capabilities. We design, build and offer best-in-class, AI-powered, cloud-based solutions that drive resilience and efficiency for businesses. We enable enterprises to uniquely unify front-end sales with back-end supply chain execution.

Our commitment to innovation, cloud-native platform, and API-first architecture create simpler experiences and faster paths to value for our customers. We empower them to pre-empt and react to emerging trends and global disruptions with technical expertise and operational confidence, transforming challenges into competitive advantage. For more information, please visit manh.com

About Kesko

Kesko Corporation is a Finnish trading sector forerunner operating across three core divisions: grocery trade, building and technical trade, and car trade. These are business areas where Kesko maintains strong market positions and expertise, driving long-term profitable growth.

Together with independent K-retailers, Kesko forms K Group, which stands as the largest trading sector operator in Finland and one of the largest in Northern Europe. K Group operates approximately 1,700 stores across Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. By integrating extensive store networks with seamless online sales and digital services, Kesko delivers a multichannel customer experience. K Group’s annual retail sales total approximately €15–16 billion, and the group employs around 39,000 to 45,000 people.

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