22/09/2021 | Hardis Group
This e-commerce pure player specializing in affordable organic products decided to change its warehouse management software alongside its project to relocate its logistics hub to a new 14,000 sqm warehouse. La Fourche chose the Reflex WMS solution for its ability to manage the specificities of e-commerce logistics and support the company’s international expansion.
Grenoble, 22 September 2021 – Hardis Group, a consulting firm, digital services company and independent software vendor, today announced that La Fourche, a fast-growing start-up specializing in the organic products market, has chosen to deploy Reflex WMS at its new logistics warehouse in the Paris region, which will be used to store, pack and ship customer orders. The aim is for the solution to be operational by mid-October.
Organic products at affordable prices
La Fourche, founded in September 2018, is an e-commerce platform offering a selection of 3,300 organic products, including foodstuffs (except fresh produce), homeware, health, hygiene and baby care products. Its business model is based on a subscription system: in return for a €69 annual fee, members can purchase items for 30 % less, on average, than in supermarkets and specialist retailers. For every paid-for subscription, a second subscription is gifted to a struggling household. The aim is to give low-income families access to quality products. This start-up has grown strongly from the outset, developing a clientele of 45,000 customers in only three years. Nearly 125 employees process 800 orders daily.
A new warehouse and a new WMS to absorb the growth
A 1,500 sqm warehouse located in Livry-Gargan, near Paris had been used since February 2019 for storage and to pack and ship orders. In November 2019, the decision was made to transfer the company’s logistics activities to a larger, 14 000 sqm warehouse in Mitry Mory, and to seize the opportunity offered by this relocation to replace the legacy warehouse management software, which was not totally satisfactory. “We engaged the consulting firm Etyo to hunt for our new warehouse and to organize the call for tenders for our new WMS”, notes Boris Meton, COO and co-founder of La Fourche.
Guaranteed three-month deployment schedule
Following the call for tenders issued to seven WMS publishers, Reflex WMS was chosen in March 2021. Key factors in the decision: Hardis Group’s ability to support international expansion, given the start-up’s ambition to export its concept; features tailored to the specificities of e-commerce, including goods reception and storage slot management, as well as the solution’s robustness when processing large numbers of order items; Reflex WMS’s recent technology and ability to interface simply with the online store developed by La Fourche, the CRM system and current and future mechanized fulfillment systems (including motorized conveyors and marshaling yards); the expertise of the Reflex consultants; and the assurances provided in terms of speed of deployment. “We gradually transferred our logistics activities to our new warehouse over the summer of 2021. The contractual arrangements with Hardis were finalized in June 2021, with the ambitious goal of going live in mid-October 2021”, explains Boris Meton.