Shorter delivery times, new market segments

Innovative snacks, superfoods, nuts, dried fruits: KoRo currently reaches around 1.5 million customers in 17 countries with the distribution of vegan and vegetarian foods.

While browsing through the online store, it‘s striking: The product range is varied and the items are different to those you are used to from the supermarket around the corner. You can find 1 kg of dried organic Fairtrade mango strips next to vegan protein bars and dry mixes for vegan meat substitutes. There is much more behind the concept of bulk packaging than just indulgence: selling in large packages is primarily based on the idea of generating less waste per product and thus achieving the efficient use of transportation, i.e. saving emissions. On average, KoRo saves about 40% of plastic packaging per 1 kg of food thanks to bulk packaging compared to average retail packaging. *

It is therefore even harder to decide between freeze-dried strawberries in one-kilo bags, date-hazelnut cream in a 500-gram jar, or the kilo bag of chocolate-covered coconut balls.

That the company is hitting the right nerve with this concept is shown by the sales figures: KoRo‘s business is growing strongly. From 2019 to 2021, sales have at least tripled each year. KoRo closed the 2023 financial year with sales well over 100 million euros.

The fact that such strong growth is always accompanied by challenges was demonstrated by online orders placed by customers from Switzerland and the UK.

In the past, KoRo worked with a partner who handled the logistics but only offered standardised workflows and also required many manual processes. KoRo had to manually transmit customs clearance and product data on a daily basis, which delayed the entire process and was also likely to cause errors.

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The previous solution significantly slowed down the day-to-day operations and thus did not provide a suitable basis for KoRo‘s growth plans and customer satisfaction requirements.

When looking for a partner to optimise its processes, KoRo became aware of exporto. Although other providers were evaluated, it was exporto‘s flexibility and ease of communication, which facilitated the onboarding process and the initial test phase, that ultimately convinced KoRo.

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“In Switzerland, we had quite a long delivery time as the parcels were stored for several days in the distribution center of our former partner before being handed over to the local carrier. In the UK, we faced the challenge of not having a partner for customs clearance. We had to limit the minimum order value for customers to 135 GBP.”

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For KoRo, one thing is particularly important: exporto is not just a logistics provider but also advises the company on how to further expand its business in the country itself.

The key to a loyal customer base is to understand the target market and to offer customers exactly what they want. There are certain preferences in every country. It is important to know these and integrate them into daily business.

The results that KoRo has achieved together with exporto are certainly impressive. All relevant data is transmitted and processed fully automatically at exporto.

As the automated processes are saving an enormous amount of time and KoRo is also benefiting from exportos‘ optimised shipping routes, delivery times to Switzerland and the UK have been reduced by one and two days respectively. Additionally, the impact of the optimizsed processes can also clearly be noticed in customer service – the volume of tickets for delivery issues to these two countries has been significantly reduced.