Fulfilment specialist creates 25 jobs with expansion to three more sites

Chorley-based fulfilmentcrowd has opened three new sites in the UK and Europe as it continues to meet growing demand from SME eCommerce retailers.

The international fulfilment services provider has opened new centres in Yorkshire, France and the Netherlands, which will increase overall capacity by around 48% during the next 12 months.

Twenty five new jobs will be created across the three centres, taking total headcount at fulfilmentcrowd to more than 130, with employees working across 13 sites globally. The past two years have also seen the company open new fulfilment centres in the USA and Germany.

The new 28,000 sq ft Yorkshire centre is located in Belton and will serve a growing base of Northern-based SME retailers.

The European centres, in Lieusaint, France and Born, Netherlands, provide fulfilmentcrowd with 150,000 sq ft of additional space to support growing UK exports, as well as helping drive the company’s European expansion.

Lee Thompson, fulfilmentcrowd managing director, said: “During the past 12 months we’ve seen 67% growth in the number of eCommerce SME retailers we’re working with.

“We’re now picking, packing and moving products for more than 500 retailers across the UK, with projections for this rate of growth to continue over the next few years.

“The new centres will enable us to effectively meet this demand, meaning we can sustain growth, whilst maintaining high quality standards and providing customers with the expertise and confidence to scale their businesses.”

He added: “UK-based SME retailers are increasingly targeting international eCommerce consumers and want this to be affordable and hassle-free. Growing our global presence achieves this by eradicating the need for British eCommerce retailers to worry about any complexities, excessive costs and delays of cross-border trading, whether that’s within the EU or beyond.”

In addition to meeting export demand from UK retailers, fulfilmentcrowd pinpointed the centres in France and Netherlands as prime locations for offering its services to European-based small and medium-sized eCommerce retailers.

“France is Europe’s second largest eCommerce market, behind the UK,” said Lee, “and having a base there will prove instrumental to our growth throughout the continent. The location of Born, which is close to the borders of Germany and Belgium, will also enable us to efficiently and effectively strengthen our distribution routes across Europe.”

Born becomes fulfilmentcrowd’s second centre in the Netherlands, alongside its existing site in Aalten.

Both new centres in Born and Lieusaint will be operated in partnership with De Boer Group, marking the first time fulfilmentcrowd has collaborated with the end-to-end supply chain operator.

Fulfilmentcrowd’s Yorkshire site will be operated in partnership with Connect Warehousing, which has joined fulfilmentcrowd’s Fulfilment Partner Network. The network provides warehouse operators with the opportunity to optimise warehouse space by cost effectively allocating under-utilised space to SME eCommerce retailers, that they may not traditionally work with as they trade under specified minimum volume requirements.

Lee Thompson said: “All of the new centres are up and running and there’s an active pipeline of new customers, which will see us quickly filling the increased capacity. We already have an eye on further openings, with locations and partners under consideration.

“We are planning ahead of the demand curve, ensuring we’re in a position to continually grow our customer base, whilst also accommodating the expanding capacity requirements of the existing, fast growth SME retailers we’re already working with.”

In March this year, fulfilmentcrowd closed its financial year with a £7.5m investment from growth capital investor BGF. This is supporting fulfilmentcrowd’s international expansion.

For its year ending March 31, 2021, fulfilmentcrowd reported 71% growth in revenues, with turnover reaching £13m.