Practical information
Description
Timeline
Stakeholders
Strengths and offer
Urban logistics
Positive impacts
Needs
Logistical challenges
Practical information
What?
eFarmz is a Belgian e-commerce platform offering organic and local groceries as well as meal boxes, with order preparation and delivery either at home or to pick-up points.
Who?
eFarmz, as a food e-commerce company and operator, in connection with organic and local producers, individual customers, pick-up points and delivery operators.
Where?
Headquarters in Anderlecht, Brussels.
Delivery in Belgium and Luxembourg.
When?
The company was founded on 16 May 2013.
Contact
hello@efarmz.be — +32 490 57 21 66
Boulevard Industriel 135, 1070 Anderlecht.
Resources
efarmz.be ; eFarmz legal notices and general terms and conditions ; eFarmz LinkedIn ; CompanyWeb.
Description
eFarmz presents itself as a Belgian online shop offering organic, local and seasonal products, as well as meal boxes. The company works with partner producers and organises sales, order preparation and delivery to customers, either at home or through pick-up points.
The project is interesting because it is not only about sustainable food or short supply chains. It also shows how a promise of organic, local and more accessible products relies on a complete logistical organisation: digital interface, storage, order preparation, cold chain, delivery slots, pick-up points, packaging and last-mile delivery.
eFarmz therefore makes it possible to observe an important tension: how can local food be made more convenient without reproducing all the costs, constraints and environmental effects of a conventional e-commerce model?
Timeline
16 May 2013
eFarmz is founded.
Today
Headquarters in Anderlecht, delivery in Belgium and Luxembourg, with an offer combining an online shop and meal boxes.
Stakeholders
eFarmz, as a company, online sales platform and integrated operator for preparation and distribution.
Organic and local partner producers, who supply the products sold on the platform.
Individual customers, who order online and choose either home delivery or pick-up point delivery.
Pick-up points, which act as intermediaries for handing over orders.
Couriers or delivery operators, who handle all or part of the last mile.
Belgian production territories and short food chains, mobilised in the promise of proximity, quality and seasonality.
Strengths and offer
Online shop offering organic, local and seasonal products.
Meal boxes designed to simplify access to organic and local food.
Home delivery and pick-up point delivery.
Direct relationship with partner producers.
Simple digital interface making a dispersed local offer easier to read and access.
Integrated logistical organisation: online sales, storage, order preparation and distribution.
A robust logistical form given to a short-chain promise, making it compatible with everyday uses and time constraints.
A useful case for comparing an integrated operator like eFarmz with tool-platforms such as Linked.Farm.
Urban logistics
How does it work?
eFarmz combines several links that are usually separate: aggregation of local supply, online sales, storage of fresh and dry products, order preparation, delivery slot management and planned delivery. Standard orders close every day at 10 a.m. for delivery the following evening, while meal boxes follow a specific weekly calendar. Orders can be delivered at home or collected from a pick-up point.
Why is it interesting?
Because eFarmz shows that short food chains are not automatically simple from a logistical point of view. To make products from many producers accessible, information has to be centralised, stocks organised, baskets prepared, the timing of fresh products respected, packaging managed and reliable handover to customers ensured. The project makes visible the hidden logistics behind a promise of simplicity: ordering local products as easily as one would order from an e-commerce platform.
Which obstacles does it respond to?
Dispersed local supply, difficulty for customers to visit several producers, time constraints, limited visibility of availability, complexity of buying through short supply chains, need for reliable delivery of fresh products, and the need to manage the last mile, packaging and cold chain.
Identified nodes / obstacles
Transport; last mile; storage; order preparation; fresh and dry products; time; delivery frequency; pick-up points; order handover; packaging; cold chain; possible returns; customer service; tension between a local promise and e-commerce logics.
Positive impacts
Environment — potential reduction of certain customer trips if deliveries are genuinely mutualised or if pick-up points are integrated into existing journeys. However, impacts need to be discussed carefully, especially in relation to delivery, packaging and the cold chain.
Space — possibility of reducing some dispersed individual trips to different shopping locations, but with logistical pressure shifted towards preparation, pick-up and delivery sites.
Neighbourhood — easier access to organic and local food for households that do not always have time to visit several shopping locations.
Social relations — visibility and outlets for local producers, but a relationship mediated by a platform rather than systematic direct contact between producer and consumer.