Lucian Baltaru, Sameday Group: We are committed to strengthening our position as a key partner in the growth of eCommerce

In an engaging conversation with Business Review, Lucian Baltaru, CEO of Sameday Group, sheds light on the dynamic shifts within the courier market in recent years, particularly through the lens of the pandemic’s impact. Baltaru details how SAMEDAY has navigated these turbulent times with investments in technology and the expansion of their Easybox network, enhancing operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

How has the courier market changed in recent years? Have deliveries decreased or increased since the pandemic?

It’s no secret that the economic and social context has been quite unforeseeable in the past years. Although the external factors had a direct impact on the core businesses in the industry, SAMEDAY’s long term strategy to invest in technology and the expansion of easybox network had paid off. Because of it we have been able to constantly improve operational efficiency, which has led to maintaining a high level of satisfaction in customer experience.

Our growth in terms of the number of deliveries came from several factors, such as the increased market penetration due to the trust that clients have in SAMEDAY’s services. Another reason is represented by the constant growth of easybox adoption. Now it’s only fair to say that the easybox represents a new market standard. Last, but not least, the consumption of eCommerce has had an incredible uprising over the past years, especially during the pandemic for obvious reasons. All these led to a lot of changes in the customer behavior. The clients put a lot of emphasis on the quality of all services and on speeding up the delivery time. Thus, we adapted quickly. We have a regional network of over 5000 easyboxes in Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. We were able to go from strength to strength thanks to the fast expansion of the easybox network. If in 2020 we had over 800 lockers only in Romania, by the end of this year we aim to reach 8500 points of out-of-home delivery solutions in the region.

At national level, in 2023 we registered a 47% growth rate of the orders delivered at the easybox compared to the previous year. The upraising preference that customers have for the easybox delivery is due to its consistent benefits: flexibility, the 24/7 availability for picking up the order, the proximity to the clients’ homes and offices and the fast and intuitive process.

How has customer behaviour changed in recent years? Do they order less or more?

The eCommerce has had a fast growth and penetration in Romania in the past year. The European eCommerce Report for 2023 confirms this positive trend, with Romanian customers ranking the third place in the Central and Eastern European markets.

At SAMEDAY we have surpassed the growth rate of the market and have seen constant growth in the number of deliveries. Over the past 12 months SAMEDAY delivered 95 million parcels in the Romanian, Hungarian and Bulgarian region. Moreover, the adoption of the easybox delivery solution among customers increased each year as well. Over 70% of the online shops in our portfolio deliver the orders to their customers via easybox. And over 80% of the Romanian online customers have ordered at least once using the easybox delivery method. This ascendent trend makes room for generating even more orders by the end of 2024.

How much has payment by card, directly on site or at the POS increased at the expense of cash?

If we look at the home delivery segment, we still see a consistent share of almost 60% of orders being paid upon delivery. Nonetheless, the clients’ trust in e-commerce is improving. When it comes to the easybox network, over 70% of the total number of deliveries are prepaid. This proves the big amount of trust that clients have in the easybox service. And we are confident that along with the fast take-off that eCommerce has had since last year, card payments will gain more ground in the future.

What is the current workforce like? How many foreign workers do you have?

Regarding the local workforce, we can say that instability prevails, with fewer Romanian personnel interested in long-term employment opportunities in the blue-collar category. This significant impact arises from their choice not to work in the local market but to seek employment abroad. Currently, to address the shortage of this labor force, approximately 25% of non-EU individuals are employed in SAMEDAY warehouses.

We are also seeing a trend of decreasing interest among candidates in all divisions. This could result from factors such as changes in individuals’ career preferences, shifts in the job market, or changes in the economic and social environment. It is important for us to find these reasons and identify ways to attract and retain potential candidates across all our divisions of the organization.

What are your development plans for the coming years?

We will continue to apply our vision of success by substantial investments in technology solutions that will bring constant improvement in customer experience. We will expand our out-of-home delivery solutions regional network each year in order to establish a strong regional infrastructure for online shops, that is easily accessible and capable of sustaining a high level of performance of costs and delivery time. An important step in this matter is the intention to take over Sprinter, a well-known delivery company with a 25-year presence of the Hungarian market. We will also continue to invest in optimizing the delivery capacity and the speed of processing orders. Thus, we are committed to strengthening our position as a key partner in the growth of eCommerce in the region.

DMCA

PROTECTED