#RAJA customers: Clément Kuhn pampers e-tailers and retailers | RAJA

In less than two years, they have become a leading player in 1st kilometre logistics and are now one of the leaders in Ship From Store, enabling retailers to increase their turnover. Interview with Clément Kuhn, the head of Wing’s logistics operations for this new issue of #ClientsRAJA

Clément Kuhn, can you give us a quick overview of your history and explain your business in more detail?

The initial idea was based on a simple premise: “logistics and order preparation” are real constraints for small e-merchants who place less than 1,000 orders per month and who represent a large majority of the 180,000 French e-merchants.

Buying boxes, packing orders, queuing at the post office or even after-sales service for tracking packages takes up a lot of their time and money and is not their core business.

With just a few clicks, we offer them the possibility of collecting their products sold online, transporting them to specialised packaging workshops and sending the packages anywhere in the world in the most economical and qualitative way possible. This solution has enabled us to grow to more than 300 customers and to win several awards, in particular the best start-up of the 92.

When you arrive, you immediately notice that the business has grown and that the storage space is almost full. Are you planning to move?

We have grown a lot in two years and we are now more than 30 people. Our organisation has also been in this direction since we have moved into 1500 m² and are already planning the next opening, I won’t say more (smile).

In the video interview, you talked about Ship from Store, how did you feel that shipping from shops would become an alternative for retailers?

This idea quickly became obvious to us. Everyone has experienced a product being out of stock. It is extremely frustrating for the consumer and for the brand, which loses turnover.

In reality, the product ordered is no longer in the brand’s warehouse but may be in one of the brand’s many shops.

On our side, we have couriers who travel around the cities to pick up products, and these couriers could very well pick up the products in the shops and deliver them to the brands’ end customers, which is how ShipFromStore by Wing was born! It was also awarded the prize for the best innovation at this year’s International Transport and Logistics Fair 2017.

From now on, retailers can extend their web catalogue to the parts present in their shops and create a united shop and warehouse stock. They gave us the idea to develop our reverse logistics (order returns) and destocking solutions (recovery of unsold stock and repatriation to the warehouse or directly to off and online outlet networks).

Are there any pre-requisites to start shipping from shops?

There is only one: find the right partners, both for IT with an Order Management System (OMS) solution and for logistics and transport.

Unsold goods, returns and out-of-stocks are synonymous with deadweight loss, so our advice to retailers is to equip themselves with a high-performance OMS. The tool must give them a view of the entire stock (in the warehouse and in the shops). They can then offer click & collect to their customers or set up ship-from-store logistics. Turnover will grow structurally via these alternative channels. We have the experience to support them in this logistics area.

Let’s talk about you Clément, what are your tasks at WING?

i’m in charge of operations, which at Wing is quite broad since it includes

• the first mile, i.e. couriers and urban transport,
• in-house and outsourced preparation workshops
• to delivery to the end customer (BtoC) as we have 3 partner carriers for last mile delivery.

Fortunately I am not alone in managing this, I rely on a great team that I can never thank enough.

Were you originally destined for a logistics role?

I clearly had an interest in logistics! I have a logistics degree (Master’s in Logistics from ISLI in Bordeaux). I have been working in e-commerce logistics for more than 7 years now. This has enabled me to combine my passion for the Web and digital technology with the logic and pragmatism of the operations which are my core expertise.

In charge of choosing logistics partners, what are your criteria for selecting them?

First and foremost, quality! Because this is essential in e-commerce. It’s what the end customer sees first. Our long-standing customers know the importance of logistics as a lever for building consumer loyalty, but we have an evangelisation and advice phase with some of our new customers.

Every failed order and delivery is potentially a loss of revenue because it directly impacts the brand. We have to guarantee optimum quality and we seek the same philosophy from our partners.

So RAJA met all these criteria?

rAJA was able to support us in this respect with the quality of its products and the richness of its catalogue; coupled with its agility in delivery and very responsive and friendly customer service. We were lucky to have you by our side from the start! We built ourselves with you and we continue to rely on you. The proof is that the new warehouse was fully equipped on RAJA’s advice!

We also appreciate the regular visits and support, your alerts to discover new products and help us to be ever more efficient.

We ask every customer we meet if you have a shared anecdote with RAJA?

We managed the destocking for a large photography company – that is, to recover the unsold products. These are fragile products.

1. So we moved our teams to about twenty cities in France to pack these unsold items directly in the galleries.
2. We had RAJA send specific packaging (personalised “fragile” adhesive, protective foam, specific PH neutral bubble film, etc.) to each point of sale
3. the collection of unsold goods was carried out in one day!

Apart from the stressful aspect of such a sensitive operation (value and fragility of each item, limited time in the customer’s space) it was a great team experience.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Clément Kuhn, and good luck to the Wing team!