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Mercadona has taken an important step in its online growth strategy with the inauguration of its first semi-automated warehouse in Madrid.
Located in the La Atalayuela industrial estate, in the district of Villa de Vallecas, this new “Hive” represents a milestone for the Valencian company and reinforces its commitment to e-commerce.
Mercadona’s multimillion-euro investment to build its first semi-automated warehouse
The facility, which required an investment of 54 million euros, has a surface area of 32,000 square meters, making it the largest Hive in Mercadona’s network.
It incorporates 70 robots that partially automate the picking process for more than 2,700 non-perishable product items (dry goods).
Thanks to this technology, the product is brought directly to the worker’s station, eliminating the need to walk the aisles and reducing the physical effort required of the staff.
The economic benefits of this opening
This new logistics center has the capacity to prepare up to 5,000 orders daily. Combined with the Hives already operating in Getafe and Boadilla del Monte, it raises Mercadona’s total online service capacity in the Community of Madrid to approximately 8,000 orders per day. With this opening, the company expects to reach 95% coverage of Madrid’s municipalities by the end of 2026.
The Vallecas Hive will create jobs for 700 people. According to Mercadona, the warehouse design aims to improve working conditions by combining technology and scale to optimize processes.
Juana Roig, general manager of Mercadona Online, highlighted: “Vallecas is the first semi-automated hive we have launched, and we designed it with the idea that its large size and technology would serve our model: improving our workers’ day-to-day work and increasing the service level for customers when they receive their order”.
In addition, the center will have 175 new ECO delivery vans, adapted to maintain the cold chain and reduce environmental impact. These add to the 80 in Getafe and 50 in Boadilla, bringing the total fleet in Madrid to more than 300 vehicles.
Mercadona’s seventh hive and the boost to online sales
This is Mercadona’s seventh hive in Spain (after those in Valencia, Barcelona, Alicante, Seville, and the two previous ones in Madrid) and the first with partial automation.
The company’s online project has seen strong growth: in 2025 it billed more than 1 billion euros, 26% more than the previous year. Improvements such as web accessibility for blind people and the addition of Bizum as a payment method have contributed to this progress.
The new facility marks a before and after in Mercadona’s online logistics. While the company continues strengthening its physical store model and sections such as “Ready to Eat,” the remote channel is becoming increasingly relevant for attracting customers who prefer to shop from home. The combination of robots, large scale, and an eco-friendly fleet seeks to offer greater speed, efficiency, and sustainability.
What does this mean for customers?
People in Madrid will benefit from a more agile service with greater availability. Automation in dry goods makes order preparation faster without compromising the quality or freshness of the rest of the assortment. All this with Mercadona’s usual commitment to low prices and own-brand products.
This opening reflects Mercadona’s long-term vision: to integrate technology in the service of people, both workers and customers, to consolidate its position in Spain’s competitive food retail sector.
With 32,000 m², 70 robots, and the capacity for thousands of orders daily, the semi-automated hive in Vallecas is positioned as one of Mercadona’s most ambitious logistics projects in recent years. A clear commitment to the future of online grocery shopping.