Customer:
Beerwulf, an online craft beer retailer
Industry:
Consumer e-commerce
Solution:
Full optimisation of Beerwulf’s supply chain to allow efficient and sustainable shipping with fewer excises
Results:
- Simplified global network with strategic warehouse locations
- Installation of Warehouse Management System to manage and track orders
- Reduction of CO2 emissions through network optimisations and sustainable packaging
Initially, Beerwulf’s distribution network was fragmented. Each distribution centre was run by a different logistics provider, making orchestration of their supply chain challenging. This was a bottleneck for a young company with ambitious growth plans. The world of e-commerce requires speed, especially in a growing market where competitors are racing to gain new customers. Beerwulf wanted to reach several markets from the same stock and through a single point of control. To reach their customers quickly and efficiently, Beerwulf needed to restructure their supply chain and distribution network. Knowing that their growth would be limited by their fragmented network and inefficient excise management, Beerwulf started looking for a logistics partner who could support their vision.
A shared mindset
The Beerwulf team first met with Kuehne+Nagel in 2016, setting the stage for what would become a strong and successful partnership. What followed was a major restructuring project. To achieve their full potential, Beerwulf needed the right infrastructure. Davide Albanesi, National Sales and Business Development Manager at Kuehne+Nagel, attributes the success of the partnership to a shared mindset: “from day one, we have been on the same page.” This mindset can be summarised by the concept that ‘done is better than perfect ’. This agile approach favours seizing opportunities first and perfecting the processes later, all with operational excellence you can expect from Kuehne+Nagel. This has empowered Beerwulf to implement quickly and scale their business across the region.
With Kuehne+Nagel’s support, Beerwulf reorganised to create a regional distribution centre in the Netherlands and three local distribution centres in the UK, Spain and Italy. These four fulfilment centres enabled Beerwulf to reach over 80% of Europe. The four warehouses store the products and handle all the picking, packing and shipping activities preparation, based on customer requirements. All transport documents and customs declarations are also prepared at these locations. This solution not only addressed the current challenges, but also provided a solid operational footprint for the company. “We treat Europe as a single market,” says Rossella Moramarco, the Business Development Ecommerce Representative for Kuehne+Nagel, “because e-commerce is a sector without borders.”
Thinking big
Another crucial step was to address the topic of excise taxes. Because Beerwulf sells products across multiple borders within Europe, they need to pay excise tax at each border crossing. This adds up to a significant amount of money, which affects profitability. To achieve better margins, Beerwulf wanted to serve multiple countries from the same hub. A major asset for Kuehne+Nagel is the range of expertise within the organisation. Customs specialists created a special excise tax solution that assures fully compliant handling of cross border, direct to consumer shipments out of the central hub in the Netherlands.
Furthermore, Beerwulf has made significant steps to reduce their environmental impact. This is the result of optimising transport lanes to reduce unnecessary miles, as well as embracing new, more sustainable packaging options thanks also the support of Kuehne+Nagel.
A winning combination
“Usually, the award we receive is to see the customer’s success,” Davide says . This time however, the project has been also recognised with an official award. At the end of 2020, the Assologistica prize for “Innovation in the Internationalisation of Enterprise” was awarded to Beerwulf and Kuehne+Nagel. Assologistica is an Italian logistics association that represents the various logistics providers operating in Italy. Each year, the organisation recognises exceptional accomplishments in the world of logistics. The teams from both companies were thrilled to be recognised for the successful implementation of the European network for the distribution of Beerwulf’s products.
Italy has been a particularly important country for Beerwulf’s strategy. The Italian warehouse is located in Siziano, near Milan, and has 2,500 square metres of storage. This enables a huge outbound volume of goods every year since it became operational in October, 2019. This warehouse is an integral part of Beerwulf’s network.
Beerwulf is now Europe’s number 1 online beer provider. Consolidating its network is just the first step towards larger plans for the future. Having achieved this, the company can now pursue other goals, confident that their logistics foundation is serving them well. Davide, Rossella and the team at Kuehne+Nagel continue their work, empowering customers to scale and expand their online sales channels.
