Market Overview

The size of the logistics robotics market (based on company sales) was estimated at 40,430 million yen in FY2024 (projection), 113.1% of the size of the previous fiscal year. The growth owes to the increased variety of robots in the market, the increased use of robots at logistics sites, and the rising cost of robot deployment per case.
Demand for automated warehouse robots that achieve high effective storage up to the ceiling has increased recently, as rising warehouse rents have increased the need for warehouse efficiency. The emergence of Autonomous Case Handling Robots (ACRs), which enable multiple picking and conveying by a single robot, is gaining attention in the Japanese market.

The increasing variety of robots on the market has expanded the automation options for logistics sites, while foreign manufacturers continue to enthusiastically enter the Japanese market, intensifying the competition among logistics robot manufacturers.
It should be noted that large-scale investment in robot deployment by logistics companies has increased recently, whereas in the past such investment was made primarily by shippers. Robot deployments by SMEs are also gradually increasing due to government subsidies and the spread of robotics as a service (RaaS), not just sales.
In addition, deployments have even spread to warehouses adjacent to factories, rather than just to consumer-facing locations such as logistics warehouses and retail/wholesale distribution centers. 

Noteworthy Topics

Requirements for Foreign Logistics Robot Manufacturers Entering the Japanese Market

The proportion of logistics robots from overseas, such as China and Europe, is on the rise in the Japanese market.

When foreign logistics robot manufacturers enter the Japanese market, the key is how far they can localize the Japanese specification. For example, whether they can adjust the size of their robots to what is appropriate for Japanese logistics sites, build customer-oriented maintenance support systems, etc.
There are other considerations to ensure customer convenience, such as whether there is a Japanese-language customer support, whether the support is available nationwide, whether the robot parts are available in Japan, etc.

Future Outlook

The size of the logistics robotics market is expected to reach 73,330 million yen in FY2027 and 123,800 million yen in FY2030.

The introduction of logistics robots is more advanced in Europe and the United States. This is due to the smaller number of children and declining labor force, as in Japan, as well as rising commodity prices and labor costs. Labor shortage is also a serious problem in Japan, especially in some regions, which is driving the automation in logistics sites.


In anticipation of labor shortages in the future, it is necessary to build robotic logistics centers or warehouses, which can improve the robot deployment rate. In addition to the adoption of robots from the perspective of business continuity as shown above, the strategic deployment of logistics robots for business expansion is expected to increase by both shipping and logistics companies. Based on the above, the logistics robotics market size is forecast to exceed 100 billion yen by FY2030.

Research Outline