This paper proposes a new approach for the seismic design of Automated Rack Supported Warehouses (ARSWs), which relies on the dissipation of seismic energy through the yielding of diagonal element. To obtain the desired global collapse mechanism it is necessary to respect the capacity design philosophy. The fulfillment of this request is challenging for the profiles adopted in ARSWs, which are thin walled, implying a limited bearing capacity of the connection that is typically the weak spot of the structure. To this end, the paper presents a solution in which the cross section of the profiles is locally reduced to limit tensile resistance. At first, numerical optimization is performed for the optimization of the layout of the reduced parts, aiming to find the right balance among tensile resistance, ductility demand and good performance in compression. Different layouts are selected in order to obtain different levels of ductility or to compare different patterns for the same level of ductility. Then, the actual behaviour is validated through the execution of an extensive experimental campaign where tensile and compression monotonic tests are performed, as well as cyclic ones.