VIL

Cool & Fresh Delivery

In this project, VIL and Flanders’ FOOD are exploring how e-commerce companies can effectively handle the logistics of fresh refrigerated food products with a focus on food safety, sustainability, and affordability. 

status: Closed | theme: Last mile | type: Regional

Despite the strong performance of e-commerce in 2020, online sales of fresh, chilled food remain limited at this time. However, the latest market figures indicate that this category has high growth rates, showing great market potential for online sales of fresh foods.

Goal

This project aims to create guidelines for a logistics model that is legally sound, economically feasible, and scalable. This model will also explore potential integration with existing last-mile logistics. Participants may further elaborate on these guidelines in their business cases after the project. The project will investigate the opportunities in both the national and international e-commerce market, considering both B2C and B2B contexts.

In cooperation with:


Results

  • A survey conducted during the project showed that 28% of online consumers were already buying fresh food online.
  • This evolution offers new opportunities for fresh food providers and also for logistics service providers. However, a lack of knowledge often appears to be the reason why companies have not yet started using it.
  • Home deliveries mean transporting smaller quantities to many more different addresses. Even for many logistics service providers, who are familiar with home deliveries, the transport of fresh products has not yet been established.

VIL and Flanders’ FOOD have formulated clear recommendations for companies that want to get started with e-commerce for fresh food:

  • An actively refrigerated delivery (including through the use of refrigerated trucks);
  • A transparent delivery process with confirmation of the chosen time slot (of no more than two hours).
  • An up-to-date track-and-trace system.
  • Adapted procedure for absent customers at the time of delivery.
  • The cold chain must be maintained and adequately monitored throughout the entire process.

Practical details

Start: June 2021
End: May 2023
Total lead time: 24 months

Participating companies

18 companies: Air Liquide, Air Products, BD Logistics, Cargo Velo, Dierendonck, DPD Fresh, Dynalogic, Etheclo, Foodbelgium/Streekmarkt.be, Food Express, FoodSprint, GLS, Milcobel, Normec Group, Pittman Seafoods, UPFRESH, Urbike and DV Fresh.


     

 

Would you like to know more?

Contact Geert Verbelen (geert.verbelen@vil.be)

VIL VZW

De Burburestraat 6-8, 2000 Antwerpen
Galileilaan 3, 2845 Niel
T: +32 3 229 05 00
E: info@vil.be
VAT: BE 0480.185.038