Online fresh food market Crisp has put its Belgian distribution centre up for rent, while orders for Belgium are now being processed in the Netherlands. However, the company says this is not a precursor of an exit, saying it will have “interesting expansion news” soon. To Wallonia, perhaps?
Smarter and more efficient
As Belgian Crisp customers have noticed that orders have recently been delivered in boxes labelled ‘Breda’, RetailDetail decided to ask the company for clarification – especially as it turns out that the distribution centre in Bornem, which the retailer commissioned at its Belgian launch in 2022, is back on the market.
“We are constantly assessing how we can make our supply chain even smarter and more efficient, so it is not too remarkable that our logistics infrastructure changes over time”, spokesperson Vera Möhrlein replied. “We recently merged our packing activities in our newest and largest logistics centre near Breda, just 45 minutes away. That is why you see that location on the shipping label of your order.”
50 % growth
Möhrlein also confirms that the distribution centre is up for rent: “We are about to sign a lease for another location, a bit more to the south. With a view to future growth, the new location is a better setup. We expect to sign the lease for that new location this month.” The company does not yet comment on whether the move to that more southern location is in preparation for an expansion into Brussels and Wallonia, but it does say that “interesting expansion news will follow later this year.”
Crisp now wants to further scale up its Flemish business, offering and home delivery first: “This is also necessary because we are doing well in Belgium and growing fast. We just finished the last quarter with more than 50 % growth compared to the same quarter the year before. We are slightly ahead of schedule in Belgium, on both growth and profitability. We expect to be profitable in the Netherlands before the summer. In Flanders, we started later so profitability specifically for that region is expected to follow a year later.”
