Our second Columbus facility is now open for new and existing clients! This new fulfilment centre represents a monumental milestone for J&J USA – a statement of our commitment to growth in the US for both us and, most importantly, our clients.
To really understand how significant it is, we need to go back to 2016, when J&J first touched down stateside.
2016: Hello USA!
We first expanded into the US in 2016, when we set up shop in Columbus, Ohio. Our goal for that site was to give UK brands an opportunity to succeed in the US market, and since then, we’ve helped hundreds of UK and European brands establish a presence stateside for the first time.
Six years later, in 2022, following our first round of investment, we set out to really make a name for ourselves and our US capabilities. We opened a second fulfilment centre in the US, in none other than Las Vegas, Nevada, and this is when things really started to accelerate for J&J USA.
The intention behind opening another site was twofold. Firstly, the US is a massive place, and we knew it would be beneficial to have facilities that could serve more of the country.
With these two strategically placed facilities, we were able to serve an enormous number of East Coast and West Coast customers, with major destinations such as California and New York reachable in just 1–2 days. A pretty remarkable delivery time for US customers.
But with the addition of our Las Vegas facility, we also knew that we could begin to appeal more to domestic US businesses. While our initial intention when opening Columbus was to give non-US brands a second home stateside, we saw enormous potential in helping US brands not only improve their domestic customer experience, but also look further afield to the UK and Europe.
In short, our US proposition was evolving, and our ambitions were growing with it.
2025: A turning point
To understand where our second Columbus facility fits into this story, we need to fast-forward to 2025.
Shipping to the US was turned upside down when the US government announced a range of new tariffs and committed to removing the $800 de minimis threshold, which had previously allowed qualifying low-value shipments to enter the US without import duties.
Suddenly, shipping to the US became much more expensive and much more complicated. We saw an explosive increase in interest from UK brands looking for a localised fulfilment solution in the US, as it would enable them to import stock in bulk rather than having to deal with duties and taxes on a per-order basis. It would also provide greater protection against any further economic and legislative shocks that might come their way with little to no notice.
With that increase in demand for localisation, it was clear that we would need another site in Columbus to support it. So, we got to work finding a location and partners to help us build a new facility from the ground up, designed not only to support our existing clients, but also to enable us to bring on new US clients at a faster rate, without the fear of capacity constraints.
Our acquisition by QLS in late 2025, bringing J&J Global Fulfilment into the QLS Group, enabled us to accelerate this process.
By August 2026, we had a ready-to-go fulfilment centre, freshly constructed and fully kitted out. And with that, the next phase of J&J USA was ready to begin.
Introducing our new Columbus facility
Sitting proudly alongside our existing Columbus fulfilment centre, the new facility gives us more than double the original space we had in Columbus, providing plenty of room to grow. But it must be said that this investment is about much more than additional space.
It’s been designed from the ground up to be futureproof, with the headroom needed to install new automation technology and a warehouse layout that’s optimised for processing a large volume of goods quickly and efficiently.
Crucially, we’re not just creating additional capacity to meet today’s demand. We’re putting the infrastructure in place to support substantially higher volumes, more clients and increasingly sophisticated fulfilment requirements as our US business continues to grow.
The new facility is the foundation of the bigger picture for J&J USA. Our long-term commitment to the US goes above and beyond the opening of a new site, with a number of other significant developments taking place over the last six months.
People, processes and the bigger picture
Indeed, to usher in this new period of growth, we brought on board our first dedicated US Managing Director, Zak Hancock, earlier this year.
Zak oversaw the final stages and go-live of the new Columbus facility, but that’s just the start of what he’s been doing.
Since joining, he has hired for a number of significant new roles in the US, including Operations Managers, Inventory Managers and senior fulfilment operators.
Additionally, he’s been making fundamental improvements to the operation, not only by strengthening our headcount, but also by bringing fresh eyes to how things are done and identifying opportunities to improve our processes.
Some of these improvements are designed to make an immediate difference, particularly as we approach the demands of Peak 2026. Others are more strategic, laying the foundations for sustained improvements in operational efficiency, service quality and scalability over the coming years. We’ll definitely have more to share on this soon.
It’s this combination of day-to-day operational improvements and bigger-picture investment that will shape the future of J&J USA.
Keep your eyes on J&J USA
When we opened our first US fulfilment centre in 2016, our ambition was to help UK brands succeed stateside.
A decade later, we’re operating across multiple US locations, supporting both domestic and international brands, and investing in the infrastructure, technology and people needed to take our US proposition even further.
Our second Columbus facility represents the latest milestone in that journey, but it’s far from the final destination.
We’ll have many more US updates to share with you in the new year. And if you’d like to learn how you can accelerate your growth with J&J USA, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
