Food Union boosts delivery services and plans ecommerce expansion

Food Union has two door-step-delivery companies in the Nordic region – Hjem Is and Den Norske Isbilen in Denmark and Norway respectively – which have invested in doorstep-delivery technology improvements and expansions in ecommerce.

Food Union said the investments have led to an increase in sales, job growth and have helped reach more consumers during pandemic shutdowns.

“We expanded and improved our door-step-delivery services to be closer to the customer and to create a more intuitive consumer experience,”​ said Normunds Staņēvičs, CEO of Food Union Europe.

“We expanded our door-step-delivery routes and optimized our stop accuracy and consumer interaction platforms to ensure we reached consumers when they wanted to purchase our products. We also reviewed our product offering and mix to bring consumers the highest quality product.​

“In order for all innovations in technologies and product portfolio to come together, we invested a great amount of resources to educate and build up a strong sales team operating nationwide that could connect with our consumers on a daily basis.”​

During the first nine months of 2020, Hjem Is, in Denmark, saw a 42% increase in customers served in comparison to 2019. Food Union improved its stop accuracy by 4.3%, and only increased their trips performed by 2%. In Norway Den Norske Isbilen had a 30% increase in customers served, a 6.7% increase in stop accuracy, and a 5% increase in trips driven in comparison to 2019.

“Consumer behavior trends show Nordic markets reflect global trends where consumers continue to change their buying habits from offline to online. We believe more brands and companies will continue to follow this shift to ecommerce. Many of our consumers are utilizing our online shops and delivery services for the first time, so we want to make sure consumers have a remarkable buying experience. We will continue to create faster and more flexible delivery solutions,”​ Staņēvičs added.

With people spending more time at home, Food Union said is investing in agile market environments with strong ecommerce potential. Food Union invested in a truck-tracking system and planning software that evaluated and recalculated existing routes, analyzed consumer behavior and adapted routes in order to reach more customers.

 Additionally, Food Union constructed a new freezer warehouse in Norway, updated its car fleets in Denmark and Norway, and continued improvements to online platforms.

Hjem Is also launched a new web page and ecommerce platform to give customers faster and more flexible delivery options.