Prénatal extends its contract with GEODIS to include e-Commerce services

The distribution activity for retail and e-commerce channels to be combined at one location and current contract extended by three and a half years.

Prénatal and GEODIS’ Contract Logistics Line of Business have extended their e-commerce collaboration until June, 2020. Prénatal’s retail and e-commerce stock will be combined and stored in the GEODIS’ distribution centre in Almere.

Cooperation between Prénatal and GEODIS started in 2009 when it involved traditional logistics services with storage of store inventory at its core. When it appeared that there was great potential to reduce costs per unit in the area of e-commerce, the two companies decided to intensify and expand their partnership. Now, as a result of developments within GEODIS’ distribution processes and Prénatal’s strategic market approach, they have fully merged e-commerce and retail logistics.

"As a retailer, your stock is your most important asset," says Ardjan van den Blonk, Manager Supply Chain at Prénatal Moeder en Kind B.V. "You want to serve your consumers as well as possible, regardless of where they make their purchase – through a store or a webshop. An omni-channel inventory will prevent stock from being unnecessarily located at different sites and this will help us better meet customer needs. Working intensively and as true partners, GEODIS has helped us to achieve these aims."

"Combined stock is rare, due to a variety of complex factors," explains Joop Mastenbroek, Chief Financial Officer at GEODIS in The Netherlands. "Merging retail and e-commerce stock doesn’t simply move physical inventory – it also has an impact on all processes and systems. That is what makes this activity with Prénatal unique. However, e-commerce is a fast-changing business, and you can’t sit still. We will continue to develop our activities in this area in order to respond to future challenges and we are happy that we are doing this in close collaboration with Prénatal."

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