How De Rode Winkel improved their local shopper’s outreach

Founded in 1837, De Rode Winkel is the largest jeans store in Europe. In 2020, De Rode Winkel partnered up with Packaly to scale up their local outreach with a sustainable and fast last-mile delivery service.

Scheduled Delivery Riding

Back in the days jeans were worn as working clothes, but nowadays it is an indispensable item in everyone’s closet. Let’s dive into the biggest jeans store in Europe and how Packaly helped them maximize their local outreach with our De Rode Winkel Case Study.

De Rode Winkel’s story

Jeans have always been an essential product throughout the years, and its importance never changed. However, it has not always been a fashionable item; jeans were used as working attire several decades ago. So, what is the story of De Rode Winkel?

Johannes Broekman and Annaatje van Essenberg established their tailor and haberdashery shop in 1837 at the Lange Elisabethstraat 13 in Utrecht. After a while, the store started specializing in working attire. The regular customers at this point consisted of workers, farmers, and gardeners, coming from all parts of the Utrecht area.

Anthonius and Augustinus Broekman followed the steps of their parents and took over the store. In 1911, they expanded the business to the building next door and across the street to provide men with their ‘Sunday suits’ under the store name Gebroeders Broekman.

From this point on, every generation Broekman has given a personal touch to the store by embracing the clothing possibilities that era would provide. At a given point in time, working attire consisted mainly of jeans, and after a while, jeans became the latest fashion trend. The next Broekman generation would take this opportunity and turn the store into a jeans store, the beginning of De Rode Winkel as we know it now.

De Rode Winkel as we know it today

Nowadays, De Rode Winkel has grown into the biggest jeans store in Europe, with over 8000 jeans in stock. But some things never change; for a visit, you should still go to the monumental building at the Lange Elisabethstraat 13 in Utrecht. The store is now managed by the sixth generation Broekman. When they took over the jeans store in 2016, they decided to renovate the entire store.

Besides a renovation, the service became more fine-tuned, they made room in the store for architecture, art, and culture, and extended their product range. De Rode Winkel is now hosting the biggest Levi’s collection globally next to large variety of  jeans assortment is so varied that makes sure that men, women, and children can all succeed in finding complete outfits.

De Rode Winkel and the community

De Rode Winkel works hand in hand with small and big brands in Utrecht to help build a better industry as a whole. With Levis or Tee en van Kuyichi, De Rode Winkel is always looking for the better of the community and the industry as a whole.

In terms of sustainability, De Rode Winkel does their best to help raise awareness about the environment, how sustainable clothes are made, and working with companies CO2-neutral companies such as Packaly.

Our customers are divided equally between all ages and genders. It’s a place where everyone is welcome. Something that we have been proud of over the years.

Partnering up with Packaly

Like most other companies, De Rode Winkel has started digitizing their business by raising awareness about their digital presence, creating loyalty programs, and offering their customers the opportunity to shop online. For their last-mile solutions in Utrecht, Packaly has all the features De Rode Winkel was looking for. Reliability, speed, and sustainability.

It only took Packaly and De Rode Winkel one week only and start shipping instantly. Throughout 2020, Packaly has processed over 10% of the total orders and has been able to help promote De Roder Winkel’s sustainable approach to their customers.

Through Packaly, De Rode Winkel has reached their local community and loyal customers during the Covid-19 lockdown. They were able to turn their shop into a dark store, allowing their customers to enjoy the shopping experience and having their product delivered to them.

Working for Packaly has been really simple for them. They describe the process that the order goes through:

We receive an order from a customer online or request in-store to ship via Packaly. We enter the information through Packaly’s Delivery Dashboard. We pack the package for Packaly’s Rider to pick it up.

The easy and user-friendly plug & play Delivery Dashboard has provided De Rode Winkel with a fast and reliable last-mile solution, and improved customer satisfaction through the express delivery option that Packaly offers.

De Rode Winkel noticed that they have been receiving various positive feedback on Packaly’s speed and sustainability. Packaly delivers to their customers while being environmentally conscious thanks to their CO2-neutral delivery, giving their clients sustainable and reliable express, same-day, and next-day delivery options.

Another Packaly feature added to De Rode Winkel’s customer satisfaction and experience is real-time track and trace, giving the store and their customers the chance to track and trace their deliveries in real-time on the map and know the exact delivery time.

De Rode Winkel did not only reach their customers in an environmentally conscious manner, but they were also able to make use of local resources in the city of Utrecht, where they have been operating for years, further supporting their local community through Packaly’s added value of working within your community.

Many customers are amazed that packages are delivered so quickly. Also, Sustainable delivery is important to us. There must be a balance point between sustainability, costs and speed, something Packaly provides and does very well.

The results of the partnership:

De Rode Winkel has been one of the most successful businesses that went through generations while maintaining their positive impact. The shared values were the driving force behind a great partnership between both companies and allowed for a better customer experience for all.

Together, De Rode Winkel was able to ship 10% of its global orders in 2020 through Packaly, and the results were immediate when it comes to their customer experience. The most significant factors in the success of this partnership were Packaly’s services’ durability, speed, sustainability, and the professional clients’ support team.

This partnership shows Packaly’s role in boosting customer satisfaction and experience through its speed, sustainability, reliability, and work with the local community. Partner up with Packaly and join its mission to change the way we think about logistics, one parcel at a time.