Five years after being founded, same-day parcel service Red je Pakketje comes into the hands of a Swedish company: Instabox. The new owner has big plans with parcel lockers; there are to be thousands of lockers in the Netherlands where consumers can collect their parcels.
CEO Sam Rohn, posted on LinkedIn this morning about the sale of his company to Swedish company Instabox. The acquisition would give Save Your Parcel the opportunity to grow harder. "By partnering with a major European player, we are better able to take our services to new markets," Rohn said. The two companies have many similarities. With their customer-centric approach, they managed to snatch substantial market share from traditional players in recent years.
Instabox was founded in Stockholm in 2015 and has since been delivering in Scandinavia for partners such as H&M and IKEA, mainly via lockers, but also by bike. Instabox works with a platform that provides real-time, end-to-end insight into deliveries. Parcels are collected via a hyperlocal fulfilment network and delivered to consumers. The consumer can change the delivery address up to the last minute.
'Impressed with Red je Pakketje'
The company - which is growing by more than 300 per cent year-on-year - recently received funding of 75 million euros. That money will be used, among other things, for expansion into the Netherlands. "When we investigated the Dutch market, we were impressed by Red je Pakketje who had managed to set up a premium same-day delivery service that is popular with consumers," says Alexis Priftis, CEO and founder of Instabox.
The Netherlands lags behind with parcel safes
The delivery service thinks that the Netherlands can still catch up nicely when it comes to parcel lockers. While some countries such as Poland and Germany have 10 to 30 lockers per 100,000 inhabitants, the Netherlands has less than two lockers per 100,000 inhabitants. Instabox plans to increase that number substantially, not only by increasing the range of products on offer but also the quality of the technology.
Opportunity to grow
CEO Sam Rohn founded Red je Pakketje (RJP) in 2016 with his brother Kay and associate Tijs van Driel. Its promise to webshops and consumers: same-day delivery. Those who order in the afternoon will still get a delivery driver at their door in the evening. Meanwhile, Red je Pakketje employs 800 people, has six distribution centres and hundreds of buses. In 2020, the company achieved a turnover of 12 million euros. This year, that figure should triple to €35 million.
The founders of Red je Pakketje will remain active in the new company for the time being. How much money is involved in the acquisition, the companies do not disclose. Part of the proceeds will be reinvested in Instabox. The rollout of lockers in the Netherlands will start next month. From the summer, retailers will be able to offer this option in their online shops.
