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~ Ranpak ~

the pandemic. But that was not a question of good planning “Probably in contradiction to most other retailers, we have
but rather a question of pure luck. Because the project has a small proportion of fixed assortment and then a high
been going on for about one and half years before that.” portion of ever-changing assortment. So, close to 20% of
our assortment is fixed, and the rest, 80%, changes over
“We had been planning that for about one and half years, time. We have a new batch of products being delivered to
and it was a huge project for us because our ambition was the traditional stores and online every single week. We have
to do it properly from the beginning. We did not want to go weekly collections. In the fashion industry, they used to
slow at the beginning; we wanted to do it at full force. We have two collections and then went to four or eight; we have
did plan to go live in the spring, but due to COVID-19, we weekly collections all year round,” says Claus.
pushed the launch in all the markets and went live at the
end of March,” Claus continues. Even for the online store?
“We supply the goods to our online and physical stores at
“In normal circumstances, we would not push it because we the same time. So, it’s the same goods we supply online and
were not fully ready, but we said “now we just dive into it,” offline, and it is delivered in one batch. So, when it’s sold
and we managed to get through in a very successful way.” out, it is sold out. The concept is in and out in one week.”

And being fundamentally a traditional brick-and- That has to be an amazing logistic operation. Do
mortar retail store business model, how do you you do the fulfilment for all the countries and all the
envision the e-commerce iteration of Søstrene stores?
Grene? “Everything comes from Denmark. Our entire fulfilment is
“We really see our project as an omnichannel project, operated by ourselves.”
and we want our online and offline sales and offerings
to go hand in hand, so there is a frictionless journey for And how have you dealt with the packaging for your
our customers, no matter where they buy or where they e-commerce? Because you do have a lot of fragile
travel with us. In a perfect world, where we have physical items, normally. We are talking about vases and glass
stores, we will also open our digital store. But it currently products and the like, which makes the bulk of your
still remains to be defined if and when we would offer the inventory. Do you have a logistics partner for this?
option for digital stores to all markets.” Claus continues: “When we started, the e-commerce
business was entirely new to us, we had no experience with
A hygge experience e-commerce. It was
“EVERYTHING COMES FROM a total “cold-start”.
There are some When we were
words in the world DENMARK. OUR ENTIRE FULFILMENT doing the initial
that are fairly plan of running
IS OPERATED BY OURSELVES.”
difficult to properly e-commerce, we
translate because contacted Ranpak
they generally to get there and
represent a wide support us on
range of emotions or experiences, normally associated with how to run it. We had an idea from the beginning that
a culture or a way of life. You have to live them in order to we wanted to use only paper wrapping; we did not want
understand them. Hygge is one of those words. It’s a Danish to use plastic of any kind. It is an ongoing search for us,
expression that can be—albeit poorly—translated into the how to make the most sustainable solution, and maybe one
concepts of comfort, satisfaction, and happiness by creating day, some types of recycled plastic or other materials could
a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life be introduced if we find the offered solutions solid and
with good people. This is the spirit that drives Søstrene sustainable.”
Grene.
“And we do have a lot of fragile items, like glass vases and
And to protect and promote that hygge approach to retail, the like, so we needed to find a way to protect our fragile
the company has conceived their logistics and fulfilment items. And that’s what Ranpak provided us with: the
as an in-house core capacity. A pretty remarkable feat experience and the expertise on how to use paper wrapping,
considering that Søstrene Grene business model is what kinds of materials, and what kinds of processes we
incredibly challenging at a logistics level. could use to transport fragile materials all the way from
Denmark to each and every one of our online customers.”
You have a very particular business model, from an
assortment and stock perspective, I mean. You change “Ranpak has become a reliable partner for us. And we call
your stock constantly. them partners because for us it is very important that we

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