XPO inaugurates e-commerce DC for Sarenza in France

The French President Francois Hollande toured the new distribution center and said it was an example of France’s innovation in the logistics arena.    French online shoe retailer Sarenza this week opened a new automated, e-commerce fulfillment center in Réau (Seine-et-Marne) that will be able to process online orders in about 30 minutes, officials said in a news release.
   XPO Logistics, based in Greenwich, Conn., designed the facility and is operating it on Sarenza’s behalf.
   French President François Hollande participated in the grand opening of the facility, which received financing from the four-year-old state-owned Public Investment Bank he championed to support small-and-medium size businesses by taking more risks than traditional banks.
   Sarenza operates in 27 European countries and Switzerland, offering a selection of more than 750 shoe and accessory brands. The company said the new warehouse will support additional growth. The facility includes a photography studio to create photos of products posted for sale on Sarenza’s website. XPO said it manages storage of 2.6 million items per year for Sarenza, as well as order picking and shipment of about 6 million items.
   Sarenza CEO Stéphane Treppoz called the warehouse one of the most modern fashion distribution centers in Europe and said it “allows us to even better meet customer demand for stock availability, rapid fulfillment and parcel customization.”
   XPO, now one of the largest global third-party logistics providers in the world, entered the European market with the $3.5 billion acquisition of French 3PL Norbert Dentressangle in the summer of 2015 and has landed multiple new contracts in the region since then.