"Flexibility and efficiency have become primary differentiators in the e-commerce fulfillment market as retailers and third-party logistics struggle to cope with volatile product demand, seasonal peaks, and rising consumer delivery expectations," said Nick Finill, senior analyst at ABI Research, in prepared remarks. "Robots enable warehouses to scale operations up or down as required while offering major efficiency gains and mitigating inherent challenges associated with labor and staffing."

Automated Guided Vehicles and Autonomous Mobile Robots Goods-to-Person systems can directly replace heavier mechanized automation that typically requires massive upfront investment and rigid physical infrastructure, according to ABI.

Also, vendors, such as Fetch, Geek+, and Invia, allow for additional robots to be added to or removed from a fleet as well as reconfiguration of entire workflows and operations if product lines or fundamental operational requirements change. This is a major advantage in the unpredictable and dynamic e-commerce market, ABI Research points out.

In addition, as computer vision continues to innovate, robots are also becoming increasingly adept at performing traditionally harder-to-automate tasks. "Economically viable mobile manipulation robots from the likes of RightHand Robotics and Kindred Systems are now enabling a wider variety of individual items to be automatically picked and placed within a fulfillment operation," ABI Research said. Also by combining mobile robots, picking robots, and even autonomous forklifts, fulfillment centers can achieve greater levels of automation in an efficient and cost-effective way.