Boots.com Direct, the internet trading arm of health and beauty retailer Boots, will officially open The Fort on Friday, a new 164,000 sq ft warehouse facility in Birmingham.

T he site will handle Boots.com's order fulfilment requirements and will be managed on the company's behalf by iForce, an efulfilment and reverse logistics specialist.

Situated between Junctions 5 and 6 of the M6 motorway, The Fort will stock and process the full range of products found in a large Boots high street store plus over 1,000 additional lines.

Boots.com Direct awarded iForce a four year fulfilment contract earlier this year.

The company had previously managed the operation in-house, but the growing number of customers ordering products from its website meant it had outgrown it own facilities in Nottingham.

Boots said the new contract meant that Boots.com's on-line customer service promise met "the same high standards as consumers expect from the stores". iForce already carries out similar work for the likes of John Lewis Direct and House of Fraser.

Following "an excellent performance" in 2005, Boots.com, has targeted year-on-year growth of more than 40 per cent for the next three to five years.

"Our partnership with iForce will allow Boots.com to meet the ever increasing numbers of on-line health and beauty shoppers who are using our service," said managing director Brian Linnington.

"As well as making sure we can meet all the customers' needs now, this new facility will give us a more modern and efficient service which, in turn, will allow us an even more competitive offer."

Mark Hewitt, chief executive of iForce, said: "iForce will provide Boots.com with market leading, flexible and efficient operational support from The Fort.

"The online retail market is growing rapidly and we are delighted to be working in partnership with Boots.com to help drive their business forward in this high growth market segment."

iForce specialises in strategic planning and consultancy for e-retailers, e-analysis, stock management, customer service and logistics. It has 400 staff and over 1.2 million square feet of warehouse space in seven locations serving the UK and Continental Europe.

The Fort joins two other Midlands-based iForce facilities: one in Bromford Gate, where iForce handles efulfilment for John Lewis, the other in nearby Saltley, which is the centre for iForce's operations dealing with returned goods.

iForce said the location offered "fantastic access to the M6" while the opening of the M6 Toll in 2003 had improved traffic flows through the region.

Mr Hewitt stated: "iForce has been operating in the Midlands for eight years and we are proud to be growing our presence here.

"Successful e-fulfilment operations depend heavily on the quality and experience of those involved. We employ a total of 160 people in our three facilities in the region and a large proportion of them have been with us for many years."

Other clients are Tesco, Molton Brown, Green King and Red Bull.

Boots.com insists The Fort is not a warehouse but an efulfilment centre.

It said: "The difference from traditional distribution is that e-fulfilment is about sending individual parcels of goods bought on websites direct to the customer rather than delivering bulk loads of goods to retail stores. And that requires a specialist set of skills."