Practical information
Description
Timeline
Stakeholders
Strengths and offer
Urban logistics
Positive impacts
Needs
Logistical challenges
Practical information
What?
Wij.Leveren was a digital platform and local parcel consolidation service for local shops and webshops. The service made it possible to group local deliveries and entrust them to sustainable logistics operators.
Who?
The City of Leuven and partner municipalities, local shopkeepers, selected logistics operators, notably bpost and Cargo Velo, as well as European, Flemish and local public support. The digital platform was later taken over by Eacend.
Where?
Leuven and the initial partner municipalities: Haacht, Rotselaar, Holsbeek, Lubbeek, Bierbeek and Oud-Heverlee. The January 2025 press release also mentions the recent arrival of Diest and a planned extension towards Mechelen.
When?
The service was launched at the end of 2022. Volumes grew strongly in 2023–2024, with the 10,000th parcel reached in December 2024. The public service was then stopped following a decision by the new municipal council.
Contact
For history and governance: City of Leuven / former project leads.
For the possible continuation of the platform: Eacend — contact@eacend.com
Resources
City of Leuven press release, 28 January 2025; feedback from Tim Asperges; Eacend website; EFRO Vlaanderen; previous Leuven communications on Wij.Leveren, bpost, Cargo Velo and webshop integration.
Description
Wij.Leveren was a local sustainable distribution service for parcels from local commerce. The central idea was simple: when a customer buys a product from a shop in the region, the parcel does not necessarily need to enter a conventional national circuit before returning to a nearby customer.
The project therefore aimed to mutualise flows, limit unnecessary kilometres and make local e-commerce more competitive with large platforms. Shopkeepers could use the platform to organise parcel pick-up and delivery, after which parcels were grouped and distributed through more sustainable operators.
The important nuance is that Wij.Leveren should now be presented as a successful but interrupted case. Volumes increased, the 10,000th parcel was reached, and the model demonstrated its relevance. But the new municipal council decided to stop the public sustainable urban logistics service. The digital platform was nevertheless taken over by Eacend, opening up a possible path for continuation, partial privatisation or scaling.
Timeline
2021–2022
Development of the concept and first demonstrations of the platform to local shopkeepers.
End of 2022
Operational launch of Wij.Leveren in the Leuven region.
July 2023
A dedicated bpost unit on the Philipssite is highlighted, allowing parcels to be processed locally instead of transiting through more distant centres.
November–December 2023
Promotion of bicycle deliveries through Cargo Velo and improvement of connections with existing webshops.
December 2024
The 10,000th parcel leaves the Vaude shop in Diestsestraat.
28 January 2025
Leuven press release announcing the 10,000-parcel milestone, the doubling of volumes in 2024 compared with 2023, and ambitions for extension or new services.
After this growth phase
Decision by the new municipal council to stop the public sustainable urban logistics service. The digital platform is taken over by Eacend.
Stakeholders
The City of Leuven, as public project lead and local governance actor.
The initial partner municipalities: Haacht, Rotselaar, Holsbeek, Lubbeek, Bierbeek and Oud-Heverlee, with Diest mentioned later and an extension towards Mechelen planned.
Local shops and neighbourhood webshops, which used the platform to organise more sustainable local deliveries.
Logistics operators, notably bpost and Cargo Velo, responsible for processing, grouping or delivering parcels.
Customers of local commerce, who could receive their purchases through a more direct local circuit.
Eacend, which took over the digital platform and could support a continuation, scaling or another form of operation.
European, Flemish and local funders and supporters, notably in the framework of Wij.Leveren 2.0.
Strengths and offer
Shared platform for parcels from local commerce.
Sustainable and grouped local delivery.
Mutualisation of flows between shopkeepers, avoiding redundant trips or detours through distant centres.
Progressive integration of existing webshops to reduce double data entry.
Use of sustainable logistics operators, including bpost and Cargo Velo.
Use of cargo bikes, electric vehicles and local distribution points.
Support for small shopkeepers wishing to offer sustainable e-logistics without building a full service alone.
Real growth of the service: twice as many parcels sent in 2024 as in 2023, with the 10,000-parcel milestone reached at the end of 2024.
A very useful case for Palette: it shows both the technical and commercial feasibility of a local service, and its institutional fragility.
Urban logistics
How does it work?
Local shopkeepers registered on the platform and could offer sustainable local delivery to their customers. When a customer bought a product in a shop or through a webshop, the shopkeeper used Wij.Leveren to organise pick-up and delivery. Parcels were grouped to avoid detours through distant sorting centres and to allow more efficient local delivery rounds. The City of Leuven had selected sustainable logistics operators to handle these grouped deliveries in Leuven and the neighbouring municipalities.
Why is it interesting?
Because Wij.Leveren shows that a local parcel does not necessarily need to be absorbed into a large national network before returning to a nearby customer. The project makes visible a common absurdity of e-commerce: local goods can generate unnecessary kilometres when there is no suitable local infrastructure. By grouping parcels and organising regional distribution, the platform proposed a more direct, more legible alternative compatible with sustainable urban logistics.
Which obstacles does it respond to?
Congestion and multiplication of deliveries in the city; high delivery costs for small shopkeepers; difficulty for local commerce to adapt to e-commerce; lack of simple integration between local webshops and sustainable logistics tools; dependence on conventional parcel circuits; difficulty turning a publicly supported experiment into a structural and politically stable service.
Identified nodes / obstacles
Transport; value for money; service time; small structures; digital integration; webshop interoperability; public governance; political continuity; critical mass of parcels; articulation between public interest, real cost and business model.
Positive impacts
Environment — potential reduction of unnecessary kilometres and use of cleaner delivery modes, notably cargo bikes and electric vehicles.
Space — less congestion and less pressure on public space if local rounds are grouped rather than dispersed.
Neighbourhood — less noise, fewer nuisances and a more local organisation of parcel traffic.
Social relations — strengthening of local commerce, trust in proximity circuits and the capacity of shopkeepers to offer an alternative to large platforms.