Hermes Germany has won a long-term exclusive delivery contract from French children’s clothesretailer Vertbaudet for more than one million parcels a year, beating off the firm’s former
delivery partner DHL.Hermes announced today that it will take over Verbaudet’s entire distribution to consumers inGermany along with returns, which will be processed through its 14,000 parcel shops in future.Representatives of the two companies signed the long-term contract in Hamburg.
The French retailer, founded in 1963, sells children’s and baby clothes as well as pregnancyclothing, and has been active on the German market since 2007.
The value of the contract was not disclosed but the Hamburg-based logistics group noted that “more than one million orders” are distributed for the French firm across Germany a year.
DHL is named on Vertbaudet Germany’s website as its current delivery partner, with deliverytimes of 5-8 days from the time of the order since the goods have to be transported from theretailer’s warehouse in France.
Hermes claimed that in future Vertbaudet customers will have “more convenient” parceldeliveries, including up to four home delivery attempts, advance delivery notification and onlinetracking, as well as returns via its 14,000 parcel shops that are “increasingly open at theweekends and in the late evening”, thus avoiding “long waiting times”.
Andreas Schröder, managing director of Vertbaudet Germany, said: “Hermes convinced us not onlywith an excellent service offering but also through its industry expertise, individual solutionsand personal competence. The fact that we are changing our logistics partner after eight years alsoreflects the positive image of Hermes, not only at the front door.”
He disclosed that Vertbaudet had inspected Hermes depots, including a sub-contractor’s premises,to form its own opinion. “The processes were very professional and well organised everywhere, andthat strengthened our decision,” he commented.
Thomas Horst, Hermes Germany’s sales director, said: “With Vertbaudet we have been able toconvince another renowned clothes retailer of our services. I’m very pleased since a long-termcontract is a great vote of confidence.” The new client would in particular benefit from ‘flathierarchies and non-bureaucratic decision-making processes’ which “characterise us anddifferentiate us from competitors”, he claimed.
