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French express courier Cajoo wants to expand into other European countries from next year, with one of the options being Belgium. Some of the capital and expertise needed for this expansion comes from Carrefour, which recently became a minority shareholder,
Threat
Express delivery companies have popped up everywhere lately; think of Gorillas, Getir or Flink. Seven months ago, Cajoo was launched in Paris, and recently the start-up already raised 40 million dollars (34 million euros) from a group of investors – including supermarket giant Carrefour. It is not surprising that the French retailer has come on board: in time, these express couriers could pose a real threat to traditional supermarkets.
“For now, our ambition is to consolidate our position in France“, co-founder Henri Capoul tells Sifted. Cajoo already has more than 100,000 users in ten French cities and operates from twenty ‘dark stores’.
Advantage
Carrefour’s investment is not purely financial: Cajoo will also benefit from the retailer’s purchasing organisation. “We will buy a part of our product range from Carrefour, and we will continue to buy some products directly from big and small brands”. In addition, they will also collaborate on logistics. As a result, Capoul thinks his company might burn much less cash than its competitors.
In addition to some exclusive brand partnerships with beer brewer LBF and cider producer Maison Sassy, for example, the French start-up is also developing its own private label products. There is already a Cajoo lager, for example. These products provide differentiation from other services and are an excellent way to increase margins and become profitable more quickly.
Belgium?
Starting next year, Cajoo wants to launch in other European countries as well. “We are looking at Belgium, Spain, Italy and Eastern Europe”, says Capoul. However, he sees little synergy between different countries. “For each country launch, you have to rebuild the distribution network, the marketing and so on. It is important to be strong country by country.”
