Things have calmed down for e-commerce after rapid growth during the pandemic. Helthjem and Wolt will speed things up by delivering used goods home in half an hour.
Schibsted’s subsidiary Helthjem saw its turnover fall 15 percent in the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period in pandemic year 2021.
General Manager Anders Lund Engin says this was to be expected, because people are starting to shop in physical stores again.
– During the pandemic, we had a historically high percentage of online shopping in Norway, and it was down 12 percent by the end of April, Engin tells E24.
Now the home delivery company is betting with another home delivery company, Wolt, to do something about the case.
“We’re interested in being innovative to be more attractive among our customers, so that’s one of the many things we’re working on right now,” Engin says.
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The two companies merge and focus on fast delivery times for second-hand goods purchased through Schibsted Finn og Tise.
The companies claim that the cooperation will enable people to return goods home within 30 minutes.
– We get to all of Norway overnight. However, we don’t have a platform to offer the super speed, but Wolt does. We could have done it ourselves, but they actually do it every day. The Helthjem manager says that using the existing capacity in Norway’s distribution network makes sense both from a financial standpoint and from an environmental perspective.
You will get men shopping used
Angen explains that this is part of Helthjem’s investment in the circular economy and hopes the collaboration will help make manual shopping easier for people.
Especially one group hopes to be noticed in the new service.
We see that it is the boys in particular who are most interested in the quick delivery of goods, while the women are the most keen on second-hand trade. So I hope this contributes to more second-hand men’s shopping, says Engin.
Norway first
The express service will be launched in mid-June and the citizens of Greater Oslo will be the first guinea pigs.
Norway is the first of 23 Wolt countries to have a one-stop delivery solution. To our knowledge, this is unique to the Norwegian market, says Wolt Norway’s Managing Director Elisabeth Stenersen.
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Delivery in some places may take longer
– How can you ensure that the goods reach the people at the door within 30 minutes?
– Wolt delivers as standard within 30 minutes, but there may be some places that will take a little longer. But if you buy a second-hand product within an 8-kilometre radius, it should arrive within 30 minutes, Engin says.
Helthjem’s manager says that customers will be able to keep track of their goods in Volt systems.
It will initially cost 99 kroner for express delivery within 30 minutes. The price will likely be adjusted based on willingness to pay and the actual costs involved in providing the service, says Angen at Helthjem.
ready to expand
If it is a major success, the two companies are poised to roll out express service in nine other cities where it operates: Walt, Bergen, Kristiansand, Lillestrom, Sandnes, Sandvika, Stavanger, Trondheim, Tromsø and Tonsberg.
– What about people everywhere else in Norway?
Fortunately, they have HealthGem delivery as good as it is today. So when we use partners, we are at the mercy of where they are. The same goes for having a larger customer base to launch innovative solutions in major cities. Then we can hope that a future with more online shopping will be able to direct similar concepts to more hog-infested areas, says Engin.
So far, Helthjem has only invested in some additional technology to power the service, but they are also willing to hire more if they have to.
– We pay Wolt for the cost of providing the service, then there will be an increase in volume, and we also pay for it. This is still a win-win situation for all parties. Engin says there will be more work and higher income for Walt Show, and it will provide income for Walt, as well as HealthGem.
Helthjem is owned by the media companies Schibsted and Polaris, the former being the majority owner. At the end of last year, the US giant Dordash acquired Finnish startup Wolt for approximately NOK 70 billion.
E24 is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Schibsted Group on a par with Helthjem and Finn. Some journalists at E24 own shares in Schibsted through the group’s stock savings program.
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