Working with lots of different partners who use our data and software to run their own systems gives us a unique window into some of the most interesting companies around.
Today, rather than talk about a general topic, we wanted to give you some insight into how a company takes what we produce, and turns it into their own product or service. So without further ado let’s dive into Freshful who are committed to helping eCommerce brands take back control of their logistics.
Freshful is a small, dedicated company which develops complete ecosystems to improve fulfillment and delivery efficiencies.
There’s a lot going on in that sentence so we’ll break it down for you. Up and coming eCommerce brands have the problem that they are at the mercy of big delivery companies. Not only are these options often prohibitively expensive for new businesses, they are also built around delivery en masse.
When you book a delivery as an eCommerce company you’re putting your trust in that courier to get the package there on time, in good condition and with good customer service from the driver. Unfortunately, yours is one of 200 other parcels on the van that the driver needs to get delivered by 6pm. None of these factors come together to create a great delivery experience for the customer.
As eCommerce companies have shot up all over the Netherlands in the past couple of years, current delivery companies are struggling to cope with the strain, choosing to focus on bigger, more established clients. Luckily, Freshful is on hand to work with smaller eCommerce outfits who want to prioritise quality and consistency over quantity by helping these businesses run their own deliveries.
There are a host of variables that define whether this option is viable for small businesses – but the primary factor is order value. Because this option is not about a race to the bottom on cost, for the end user something like a small €3 order tied to a €4 delivery charge isn’t very enticing.
However, Freshful have found real success working with customers selling slightly more expensive products –– customers like Plantsome. Plantsome are a Dutch company who want to make living rooms and offices greener with plants.
The plants they sell are typically upward of €25 and the people who are ordering them want them delivered with care, attention and in a sustainable way. Freshful worked with Plantsome to bring their logistics back in house, rather than outsourcing them to a major courier company.
The great thing was that they can achieve the same cost or even lower than the major courier companies that had used in the past. So now, Plantsome can carry out the deliveries themselves with complete control over quality and in line with their own sustainability mission.
As Plantsome grows, the efficiencies found in scale will make their savings even greater and continue to give them power over their own logistics.
With our help with the calculations and software, Freshful uses historical delivery data from their customers to map out and price up how much deliveries can actually be if run in house. To start with a postal code system is required, which for the Netherlands isn’t a problem. Then Freshful takes historic orders and heat map them to see where a company can focus their initial logistics efforts.
They don’t suggest going out and buying an entire delivery fleet but instead to phase your deliveries. Starting with just a few vehicles you can begin to operate logistics yourself and outsource deliveries that you can’t achieve efficiently or exactly when the client needs them.
All the calculations that we and Freshful do can help to reduce overheads through reductions in mileage which saves on fuel and servicing. When the business wants to expand Freshful can look at the size of expansion and what that means for their current routing and availability. For the customer it’s like taking a grocery delivery model and applying it to regular eCommerce. Customers can take free delivery slots if you’re in the area or pay for dedicated times.
Think about the courier bikes from companies like Coolblue which can be seen dotted all over the Netherlands – or Ocado delivery vans in the UK. For smaller eCommerce companies, this offers an amazing opportunity to raise profile and brand awareness at a time when getting noticed is half the battle.
All eyeballs on your branded bikes and vans is clearly a marketing effort. That means that some of the operational cost of running your logistics in house can actually be offset against your marketing budget. Now that is efficient.
On top of the cost savings we’ve mentioned and the increase in control and quality you’re also going to be doing a great deal of marketing through branded vehicles moving around your local area.
If you’re interested in working with Freshul you’ll understandably have a lot of questions about how viable it is. They’ll do the right thing and run through all the variables like the physical size of your goods and your current margin to figure out if it’s right for you. But as an easy guide if you’re at the point that you need order pickers and find yourself running out of space then you’re probably the right fit to benefit from the Freshful service.
We consider Freshful a technology partner and we provide software and calculations to support what they’re doing. They’ve been able to show us a huge amount about how we provide that data and that has fed back into our own work. The software calculates everything from order volume, driver numbers, and fuel requirements to name just a few.
That volume of data means customers like Freshful can rely on us to provide the quality they need to deliver. Just like Freshful and their clients, we’re passionate about sustainable growth models and so we love working with them.
It’s not all calculations and tech, it’s about empowering customers to create an on-brand experience and giving them the tools to take back control of their logistics.
If you want to find out more about WAO and how we help our partners, contact us today.