The rise of the internet has reduced the need for physical retail stores and wholesalers. As the retail landscape is rapidly changing, wholesale distributors have to continuously evolve to stay relevant in the market.
However, inefficiencies with the current wholesale model prove difficult for brands to find the right sales channels, and for retailers to discover unique products. And this is where Amsterdam-based Orderchamp fills in the gap.
The Dutch company Orderchamp is reimagining wholesale by bringing independent retailers and brands together in a digital marketplace to empower local communities worldwide.
Raised €16.6M
Recently, the company raised $20M (approx €16.6M) funding in a Series A round led by Prime Ventures. Other investors including, henQ and several angel investors, also participated.
Prime Ventures is a venture capital investor focused on high-growth European growth-stage tech companies. It has €750M in committed capital and has invested in more than 50 companies over the past 20 years, including GlobalCollect, TakeAway.com, Mendix, iwoca, Meero and Terrapay. It currently has offices in the Netherlands and the UK.
Whereas, Amsterdam-based henQ is an early-stage venture capital investor focused on European B2B software startups. Its most notable investments include companies such as Mendix, SEOshop, SendCloud, Mews, Zivver, Orderchamp and Stravito. henQ is currently investing from its fourth fund, which has a size of €80M. Total assets under management are nearly €200M.
The latest investment will help Orderchamp to accelerate its business and expand in Europe. At present, the company serves customers in Benelux, Germany, and France.
Talking about Orderchamp’s expansion plan, Joost Brugmans, CEO of Orderchamp, in an exclusive interview with Silicon Canals, says, “First of all, we will hire more people to join our rocketship and office near Leidseplein. Next, with the Amsterdam office as our base, we will use the investment to increase our international footprint, improve the digital purchasing experience and further develop our powerful technology to delight our customers even more.”
“We are already the platform of choice in five key European markets and serve retailers and brands from all over Europe. Thanks to the latest investment, in the coming months, we will strengthen our leadership position and further expand to new markets allowing for more choice on the platform for retailers and more new relationships for our brands to foster,” he further adds.
B2B online marketplace, but…!
Orderchamp is an online B2B marketplace where brands and retailers come together to remain relevant to local consumers.
“Access to Orderchamp is for free for both retailers and brands. But in order to get through our review process and get approved, we need to make sure you meet certain quality criteria,” says Joost Brugmans.
The Dutch company collaborates with brands that meet specific quality criteria, meaning the products need to incorporate values like handmade, natural, sustainable, or ethical. In this way, it allows retailers to stand out from the crowd with their unique product assortment.
“For retailers, this means we verify your details before approving your online or physical store. We charge brands 18 per cent commission on first orders and 12 per cent commission on reorders from retailers. In exchange for the commission costs, we cover all shipping costs, marketing costs, and extended payment terms while we guarantee payout for every order to the brand. If brands invite their retailers, they pay 0 per cent commission on orders from them, as these customers were already theirs before they joined our platform,” adds Joost Brugmans.
Based on algorithms, tailored recommendations are made to retailers with the right brands and products. On its platform, the Amsterdam-based scaleup offers an assortment of more than 200,000 products from over 1,800 different European brands, including Home & Living, Kitchen & Dining, Baby & Kids, Stationery, Jewelry & Accessories, Food & Beverage and Beauty & Health.
Further, the assortment is continuously being expanded and currently includes brands such as Marie-Stella-Maris, BergHOFF, Blomus, Return to Sender, Meyco Baby, and Hoff Interieur.
How it all started
Orderchamp was founded by Joost Brugmans, Max Verduyn, Menno Wolvers, Ruud Stelder, and Dennis Cuijpers in 2019. According to Brugmans, they knew each other for a while, and before Orderchamp, they were responsible for the success of the SaaS e-commerce platform, SEOshop, which was acquired in 2015 by Lightspeed, which went public in 2019.
He continues, “Entrepreneurship and commerce are in our DNA; that is why we set out to build this product for our customers. We want to make the lives of other entrepreneurs, specifically in the retail space, easier. We built a platform before that was more focused on the ‘front-end’ of retail, and soon learned that the ‘back-end’ (meaning wholesale) was still very traditional.”
With Orderchamp, they wanted to help these independent retailers to make an even bigger difference and thereby support the store of the future.
“So two years ago, we started Orderchamp with the belief that the wholesale procurement model is inefficient and outdated, proving it difficult for brands to find the right sales channels and for retailers to discover unique products to empower local communities. We set ourselves on a mission to reimagine wholesale by bringing independent retailers and brands together in a digital marketplace to provide unique merchandise for every store,” Brugmans tells Silicon Canals.
Orderchamp overcoming the odds
The COVID-19 pandemic and recurring lockdown that caused immense uncertainty in the retail market was one of the critical challenges for the startup, notes Brugmans.
He continues, “But the resilience we have seen from our customers is simply incredible. Despite it being a tough year for the retail community, thousands of retailers are using the Orderchamp platform on a daily basis to buy from our brands. Brands, in turn, gain access to thousands of retailers from all over Europe. We improved our proposition by offering favourable purchasing conditions, such as low minimums, 60-day payment terms, and free shipping, and supported thousands of independent retailers in times of crisis. We are grateful to our growing community for their trust and hope to continue to exceed their expectations. Now it’s time to further build on the foundation we have built in the last two years.”
Growth
According to him, thousands of retailers use Orderchamp’s platform to discover and buy from more than 1,800 European brands easily. On the other hand, brands gain access to 30,000 retailers from all over Europe through the platform.
With purchasing conditions, such as low order minimums, 60-day payment terms, and free shipping, Orderchamp has supported thousands of independent retailers in times of crisis.
“Using our referral programs, we enable both sides of our community to grow and support each other. Retailers invite their brands, and brands invite their retailers to benefit from all the wholesale terms we have to offer. Both these programs help our community of retailers and brands expand their reach and scale their business,” he adds.
Double its headcount
At present, the company employs around 40 people and plans to double the headcount to 80 within the next 12 months. Orderchamp’s headquarters will remain in Amsterdam. In order to further strengthen its existing markets and grow in future markets, the company is looking for “exceptional and diverse talent” to join it in Amsterdam.
“We are hiring many roles to find people that will help us with our mission, in finance, support, sales, and design,” concludes Brugmans.
The Dutch startup has raised $25M (approx €20M) in funding to date from various investors including, henQ, Prime Ventures, Stefan van den Berg (former CEO AfterPay), Thomas Plantenga (CEO Vinted / Kleiderkreisel), and Zhong Xu (CEO Deliverect). Notably, Orderchamp was a finalist in Sprout’s 2020 start-up of the year election and was named one of the 25 most promising start-ups by Quote Magazine.
