Co-Founder and CFO
How Simon Lévelt uses ‘online’ to improve customer experience and improve sustainability
When it comes to premium coffee and tea, Simon Lévelt is an established name in the Netherlands. Coffee enthusiasts know where to find Simon Lévelt’s specialty stores, but the nearly two-hundred-year-old family business also wanted to create an experience online that matches the personal experience that customers enjoy in physical stores.
“What we are aiming for is accessible luxury,” general manager Bert Jongsma, “Consumers are constantly busy. We want to create that moment of rest for them by giving them great support in-store. But, we understand that the customer can’t always come to the store, and that’s why we also want to offer our complete range online.”
Making logistics more sustainable, improving the customer experience, and working relationships with franchisees – were all on the agenda for Simon Lévelt – and have been achieved through its webshop, thanks in part to Wolfpack.
Eye for the long term
Like many other family businesses, Simon Lévelt (now in the hands of the sixth generation of entrepreneurs) is sailing a sustainable course that is focused on the long term.
“Coffee and tea are natural products, and we decided a long time ago that we were going for 100% organic. This means that all 30 coffees will be organic from next year on, as well as more than 120 tea specialties. But what is also important in our company is the family feeling. These are family values we consider important: personal attention and working together over the long term. This is not only related to our customers and products but also to our franchisees. We really want to prevent the webshop from becoming a competitor for them.”
For this reason, a shop has been developed that franchisees will benefit from.
“It is above all a platform for them with which they can serve their customers differently. We forward orders that we receive via the webshop to a store if the customer is within 20 minutes of that location. We encourage our franchisees to seize the opportunity by doing something extra for customers within their area. For example, by adding a card or a sample bag to the order. That really contributes to the customer's experience, so that they receive the same quality of personal experience as if they would come into the store.”
Insight into missed orders
The first step of the new webshop has now been implemented. About half of the orders now go through the shops, the aim is to bring this to 100%. Jongsma wants to be sure that the franchisees can actually deliver the orders that come through from the webshop.
“We keep track of stock through the POS systems and give franchisees the tools to see which orders they missed because they didn't have something in stock. They can then take this into account in their weekly order via our central warehouse.
“With Wolfpack’s technology, they form a nice junction between our ERP and POS. And it can also easily be linked with other parties such as payment services and Bol.com. We were very happy with this solution, which is clear and easy to use.”
The last miles must be green
With Wolfpack, Simon Lévelt is now also investigating the possibilities of making online logistics more sustainable:
“Customers can pick up their order in-store, but we are also looking for customized distribution solutions for the last mile. At the moment, every order from the webshop is shipped with PostNL via regular parcel shipping and through distribution centers. We would prefer that deliveries go directly to the customer, with as little CO2 emissions as possible. That is why we are now going to work with bicycle couriers. The number of kilometers driven by vans on fossil fuel can then be reduced, as can the number of total transport movements – everyone wins.”
Simon Lévelt is now partnering up with a courier service that can arrange this and working with Wolfpack DCS so that the logistical handling of orders can be done via their order management system.
“One of our conditions is that a sustainable choice from the consumer can’t be more expensive than a non-sustainable option. And if the non-sustainable option turns out to be cheaper, I'm even willing to pay the difference. How nice would it be if all orders shipped from our stores were delivered by bicycle courier next year? That certainly fits with our philosophy: keep surprising the customer and then they will come back and tell others a positive story about your brand.”
Want to give your customers the best experience, no matter where they find you? Team up with Wolfpack and together we can make that a reality.
