Holy enables 2-day delivery to France and saves up to 25.5% per order

What's the next strategic move once you've successfully shaken up the German energy drinks market? For Holy it was winning the French market. Holy has developed a tasty, functional and sustainable alternative to energy drinks for sustained focus, with a particular emphasis on gamers. The company was founded in 2020 and has since grown rapidly in the German market. 

"From the start, Holy had France in mind as its next market because of the huge potential there," explains Moritz, Head of Operations at Holy. The French market is one of Europe's largest, with customers open to energy drinks and other nutritional supplements. 

Planning the market entry required strategic thinking about how to approach a market in a new country, how customers might respond differently or have different buying habits. "When you enter a new market, you have to invest time understanding how the customer behaves, and making sure those customers keep coming back." - Moritz.

Fortunately for the Holy team, they already had an expert operations partner alongside them to help with this next step in their expansion. SendNet had opened its doors in France in January 2022 and had a team of local experts who understood the French market and operations. SendNet has expanded its pan-European shipping (Pan-EU) fulfillment network across Europe to offer the best possible delivery times and speed across the entire continent, with full operational support.

When Holy started shipping products to France, they did so through direct injection from their base in Berlin. That method meant orders took an average of 5 days to arrive, however. Customer experience is Holy's top priority, so fast delivery with a local experience was paramount for the brand. That's where SendNet pan-European shipping (Pan-EU) came in.

Distributed inventory means lower costs for Holy

The Holy team decided to use SendNet's pan-European shipping (Pan-EU) fulfillment solution and start shipping their products from France. This would give them a better customer experience as well as cost savings per order. But how did they know how much of each SKU they needed to store in which fulfillment center? 

"The cost savings combined with the potential for greater customer satisfaction were the main reason for using pan-European shipping (Pan-EU)." - Moritz.

As part of SendNet's service, the team also provides data that calculates the optimal distribution of stock across the various fulfillment centers. The SendNet team uses historical data and also factors in Holy's upcoming marketing campaigns to estimate how much stock is needed in each market. Based on this analysis, SendNet then shares restocking recommendations with Holy.

And if something has been miscalculated or there's an unexpected spike in demand, SendNet ships the SKU from the next best fulfillment center using direct injection and absorbs the additional cost. That makes distributed inventory a low-risk option for Holy.

End-to-end freight support

The company knew fulfillment in France was the best option for Holy in terms of cost and customer experience, but still faced two operational challenges: getting stock from the supplier to Berlin, and moving it on to the fulfillment center in Paris. SendNet was able to help with both.

SendNet was able to take over freight management across the entire value chain. This included inbound from the supplier, transfers between fulfillment centers and larger B2B orders.

De SendNet's freight service gave Holy access to better transport rates and substantial time savings on freight negotiation and management. The Holy team can easily request any type of freight shipment through the SendNet App and the SendNet team does the rest: finding the most cost-effective transport option, taking over all communication between supplier and forwarder, and troubleshooting anything along the way.

“SendNet's freight service gives us complete end-to-end support.” – Moritz.

An average saving of 3 days on delivery time makes French customers happy

Using the pan-European shipping (Pan-EU) solution cut Holy's delivery time from an average of around five days for deliveries from Berlin to their French customers to just two days using distributed inventory. And their customers are delighted with the experience. 

"We're extremely customer-focused," Moritz explains, so fast delivery times and a first-class customer experience were a must in every market. "At the end of the day, my biggest priority is that my customer is happy, and a good delivery experience is a big part of that."

Building trust and customer loyalty is especially important to feel secure in a new market. Although the team started with direct injection, they realised that to offer the best customer experience they needed to increase delivery speed and allocate some of their stock to France. Combining a good purchase and delivery experience with Holy's exciting products drives customer loyalty among newer buyers.

On top of that, a local delivery experience in France requires parcel shop delivery. Here the parcel is delivered to a network of local drop-off, pickup and returns locations rather than to the customer's door. By using pan-European shipping (Pan-EU), Holy was able to tailor delivery options by country and give their French community what they needed.

"If you want to give your customer the same experience they'd have with a French store, you have to ship from France." - Moritz.

Holy's expansion has only just begun

What are Holy's plans for the future? They want to establish themselves further in the French market, and after that the United Kingdom comes into view. The UK market is attractive to the team because of its size and the demand for their products there. Entering the country post-Brexit means dealing with more complex customs formalities, though, and they'd need expertise alongside them to navigate it. 

SendNet is opening its fulfillment center in the United Kingdom in Q1 2023: a great opportunity for both teams to navigate this new market together in perfect synergy, as their current partnership has shown from day one.

Get in touch

At SendNet we know the individual and specific needs of different products and markets — and we respond to them.

If you're looking for a new fulfillment partner, take a look at what we offer.