Startup combines e-shops with logistics
In just four months, Michalis Karypidis managed to combine electronic commerce with logistics, as he observed that amid the coronavirus pandemic, consumers want get their hands on their online orders as soon as possible.
“During the first lockdown I realized that some enterprises were unable to support the huge volume of orders as they didn’t have the logistics infrastructure required. This period was the catalyst for me to create my own company,” Karypidis tells Kathimerini.
After 12 years of experience in e-commerce and the logistics sector, he decided to leave the Convert Group and implement his own business idea. In August, Karypidis founded eCommerce Logistics, which offers a service encompassing the storage, collection and management of online orders through its facilities in Eastern Attica.
He is supported in this venture by Convert Group founder and chief executive officer Panayotis Gezerlis and the same group’s deputy CEO and product innovation director Elena Chailazopoulou, as well as Cosmos Sport chief omnichannel officer Nikos Varvadoukas.
Karypidis’ company leases a logistics space of 1,200 square meters at Koropi and is already searching for another similar space in the broader Attica area.
“We serve two categories of clients: E-shops that process 100-200 orders per day, and the multinationals that have online stores. One of the benefits of our service is that online stores are not at all involved in the logistics aspect, focusing on their own growth,” he explains.
“We receive and store the merchandise of e-shops, collect and package orders, and in cooperation with courier companies we also undertake delivery of products across Greece. At the same time we connect with each company’s e-shop so they automatically send us all the orders, ready for packaging and forwarding – even on the same day within Attica,” Karypidis says.
His enterprise also updates e-shops about the stocks of merchandise they have at its facilities, and collects information based on consumer satisfaction data analysis.
“Since the start of the second lockdown, the orders we handle on a daily basis have soared by 80%-100%, a rate that is set to decline to 20%-25%,” he concludes.
