German startup Hive lands in Spain with an end-to-end model aimed at native digital brands. “Our vision is to democratize high-quality logistics processes with cutting-edge technology behind all brands, regardless of their size,” summarizes Hive’s managing director in Spain, Rodolfo Vélez. From its distribution centers across Europe, Hive prepares orders and makes deliveries anywhere on the continent in less than 72 hours. To do this, it has designed software that integrates with companies’ e-commerce platforms in 15 minutes and allows its customers to manage their freight, have real-time tracking of their shipments and generate shipping labels. return from its technological platform. “Our mission is to be the operational brain of the brands we work with,” adds Rodolfo Vélez.
Hive does not rule out expanding its Madrid warehouse, moving to another with more capacity or opening a second one
In the case of Spain, Hive has a first distribution center in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), although they do not rule out expanding it, migrating its activity to larger infrastructures or add a second center based on demand. “Being in Madrid allows us to better cover Spain and also Portugal”, specifies the managing director of the company in Spain. Initially, the startup also valued Barcelona as a center of operations: “Barcelona is clearly better located for orders to Europe, he explains, but since we are already present in Paris, Milan and Berlin, it seemed more strategic to position ourselves in Madrid”. Likewise, the company sees as an option to continue its expansion in Spain through the Catalan capital with the opening of a second warehouse. In addition to the standard end-to-end model, Hive offers the Pan-EU service to automatically redistribute its customers’ stock between its distribution centers across Europe. “What this pan-European service allows brands to do is redistribute automatically with our own predictions of their stock level and they absolutely don’t care about breaking the stock of a reference in a specific country,” reveals Rodolfo Vélez.
Their goal is to reach the approximate figure of 100,000 orders per month by mid-2023 and they trust the growth of e-commerce to achieve this: “For us, Spain is a strategic market”, underlines- he, because “it was the only market that in 2021 increased in the level of e-commerce throughout Europe and is in the top 3 worldwide in terms of growth”. Hive is launched in Spain by Naturalmojo and Skingood, two digital cosmetics brands, which join the more than 150 companies that entrust their logistics to this startup. In addition to cosmetics, Rodolfo Vélez points out that food supplements and accessories, “from jewelry to fashion accessories”, are the sectors that require his services the most. “In general, the brands that work with us grow, because in the end it’s something very strategic,” he says. This improvement in results is based, according to the general manager of Hive in Spain, on the fact that “there comes a time when startups that do B2C spend a lot of time managing logistics and operational processes and outsourcing them to Hive generally help a lot to grow and therefore also to attract investment”.
“The recipe for our success is that we constantly adapt to the needs of brands”
Rodolfo Velez Managing Director of Hive in Spain
Last mile delivery is carried out by logistics operators who enter into agreements with Hive beforehand to cover the needs of the brands. In Spain, Rodolfo Vélez says that “at the moment we are already working with GLS, but it is very likely that we will do it with Seur and Correos and, in the coming months, we will also add Paack”. Later, they will expand their portfolio of transport companies so that their customers can choose, and in addition, the platform has a system for optimizing their shipments: “Brands can choose the carrier they want to work with, specifies he, but also suggest them to us according to the areas where they want to deliver, the deadlines and even the dimensions of the package, both in terms of quality and cost”.
DURABILITY AND CUSTOMIZATION
From Hive, they assure that its main advantage is flexibility: “The recipe for our success is that we constantly adapt to the needs of brands”, emphasizes Rodolfo Vélez. Thus, they prefer to operate their own warehouses with their own software and warehouse management system, “which allows us to control quality from A to Z” and offers greater possibility of customizing orders. On the other hand, they avoid synchronization with the logistics provider. “Not having your own software that goes from the brand’s e-commerce platform to the warehouse usually generates a lot of errors,” he adds.
They have reached an agreement with GLS for the last kilometer, to which Seur, Correos and Paack could be added
Hive transfers the same philosophy to its warehouse automation: “The more you automate all the fulfillment processes within the warehouse, the more flexibility you lose to be able to adapt to all the customizations or customizations that brands ask of us. “, says Rodolfo. Velez. “If needed, we even handwrite cards to add to the order.” However, the startup does not rule out automating part of its processes, such as picking, even if it is not a priority “because it takes away a lot of flexibility and customization from brands”. They also have two packaging options, customer-made or Hive-made, which comes from 100% recycled materials. Indeed, “we can help them secure their packaging with different suppliers that we have within Hive”, explains the director of the company in Spain.
Brands can customize their own packaging or use recycled materials from Hive
Although its customer profile includes native digital companies that sell to the end consumer, Hive aspires to reach physical companies that launch their channel online and believes that the Spanish commercial fabric of this type “has room for improvement in terms of scanning”. Since its inception in May 2020, the startup has seen 1,000% annual growth, plans to reach global profitability in 2024, and recently raised a total of €41 million in funding rounds, led by Tiger investors Global and Activating. Currently it has a presence in Germany, France, Italy and Spain and hopes to expand to the UK in late 2022.