BME : ”Hey Kees, can you tell me a little bit more about VIVA Scandinavia?”
Kees: “It’s a Danish company founded in 2010 by Peng Lin. We are present in about 27 countries and our head office is located in Toronto since 2018. Our focus is mainly in America, Canada and Europe.”
“In 2012, VIVA Scandinavia mainly focused on table accessories. Since Peng Lin and I started as partners in 2015, the brand has also acquired a Belgian touch. This has also led to us specializing mainly in tea products in 2016. Concretely, we threw 80% of our assortment out of the window to focus and distinguish ourselves from the rest.”
“The tea experience is very important to us and that goes beyond the tea itself. Our assortment ranges from teacups to teapots, tea eggs, you name it! The only thing we don’t foresee is the tea itself.”
BME: “What makes you so unique?”
Kees: “We’re the only ones in the world who only make tea accessories. Our unique Danish design and good price automatically create a good brand. We deliberately chose this niche. It is also thanks to this focus that we are able to supply a very wide range of products to the food service industry, shops, interior design stores and directly to the consumer. In short, focusing on our product and brand ensures a very broad sales channel in our case.”
BME: “Why did you need BME?”
Kees: “First of all, we have 2 kinds of customers: B2B and online market platforms. (think of bol.com or Amazon) So those orders have to be processed and delivered in a different way.”
“At first we had tried this by doing it through our warehouse of B2B shipments, but it didn’t go so smoothly. There were a lot of difficulties and it was expensive. That’s why we finally opted for BME. They are the specialists in e-commerce. For example, they know how many items fit in a box, and they work with packaging quantities. This allows them to quickly process both BtoC and BtoB orders from 1 stock.”
“In addition to all these benefits, we both work with ChannelEngine, through whom we integrate our marketplaces. This also ensures a smoother collaboration.”
BME: “How did you experience the start of the collaboration? How do you experience it now?”
Kees: “In terms of performance, like the speed and accuracy of shipments, that’s just fantastic. The lines of communication and suchlike also run very smoothly. Everyone takes their responsibility.”
“What’s also very important to me is that we grow together, make mistakes, but also improve. That is something that BME is very open to. When we want to use new platforms, for example, they are always open to explore it.”
BME: “What are your further ambitions and plans?”
Kees: “We’ve now launched a kickstarter campaign. Through this crowdfunding platform we want to launch a new product. We’re going to finance our product by pre-selling it. Some 4000 people have already signed up. That’s a lot of packages that need to be delivered, so that’s going to be a nice challenge.”
Thank you Kees, we are looking forward to further cooperation and the next challenge of your kickstarter.
Are you looking for a fulfilment partner yourself or would you just like to talk?
