Damart is a long-established French family-owned company with a history spanning more than 70 years that enjoys a particularly high level of brand recognition in France. In addition to the domestic market, the brand is also represented in the United Kingdom and Belgium. The product range includes textiles, ready-to-wear clothing, and underwear. As a functional brand, Damart specializes in products designed to protect against the cold—particularly thanks to its own brand, Thermolactyl. The main target audience consists of customers aged 40 and older, with a particular focus on seniors. The brand is already well known in Switzerland: In the past, Damart generated annual sales in the millions there thanks to a widely distributed catalog.
About Damart
From Mail-Order Business to Online Marketplace
Challenges
Complex customs formalities due to the lack of legal personality—and Zalando’s strict requirements
Switzerland is not part of the EU; as a result, the customs clearance process is complex and unique. Since Damart did not have its own legal entity in Switzerland, gaining market access proved to be all the more challenging: The company had to be able to import its products directly from France into Switzerland and sell them to end customers.
Added to this were the specific requirements of the marketplace project: The process with Zalando is defined down to the smallest detail and is constantly evaluated based on strict metrics such as “Delivery on Target” and “Return on Target.” Damart therefore needed a partner with reliable operational processes who could offer sound advice on complex topics such as traction, customs clearance, sales, and returns management—and ensure a professionally organized integration.
Although Damart also consulted other providers, it did not receive any convincing answers: Many proposed fragmented solutions involving multiple partners, while others could only offer delivery on a cash-on-delivery basis—which was a deal-breaker for Damart. Swiss Post—a long-standing and trusted partner with whom contact had never been lost, even during Damart’s internal changes—ultimately won them over with a comprehensive solution that covers all outbound and return shipments from a single source and delivers the necessary reliability.
Solution
A complete solution from a single source—from shipping to returns processing via the NES API
Damart now relies on a cross-border end-to-end solution from Swiss Post that covers the entire flow of goods and returns between France and Switzerland. Transportation on the international France–Switzerland route—including both the outbound and return legs—is handled by a long-standing partner of Swiss Post. Customs clearance is handled by Swiss Post’s experienced teams, whose expertise Damart was able to witness firsthand during a visit to Switzerland. The shipments are then integrated directly into the Swiss Post network at the Pratteln sorting center and delivered to any address in Switzerland.
Returns management is the key element for Damart: Returns are consolidated at a Swiss Post center and processed via a returns management solution connected to the NES API. As a result, the solution also meets Zalando’s specific requirements—from “Delivery on Target” to “Return on Target.”
The implementation took place on a very tight schedule: nearly weekly team meetings, two on-site visits to Switzerland, and dedicated points of contact from Swiss Post’s sales departments and specialist divisions, who made themselves available at all times despite their concurrent daily tasks. Having the right contacts on board from the very beginning proved to be a crucial factor for success. A test phase was also organized without any issues to analyze the process before go-live and optimize it in a targeted manner.
Results
100 percent achievement of all of Zalando's Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) — and a clear growth target
Since the start of the partnership, Damart has fully met all of the Zalando marketplace’s requirements: Zalando’s reporting shows a 0% cancellation rate for Switzerland, as well as 100% achievement of the “Win Target,” “Refund Target,” and “Tracking Coverage” goals. All key performance indicators (KPIs) are in the green. Damart also appreciates the ability to adapt to new requirements and the flexibility with which established processes are continuously improved.
The project is also bearing fruit financially: Since launching with the Swiss Post team, Damart has already generated 115,000 euros in revenue on the Swiss market—with a target of over one million euros. The growth potential is thus clearly defined.
Damart particularly values the collaboration with Swiss Post’s experts: Communication never followed the “customer-supplier” model, but rather took place on a partner-to-partner basis—characterized by consistency and high efficiency in exchanges, right down to the excellence of the services provided. Above all, the close support during the integration phase was impressive: At Damart, the entire company is more than satisfied with the Swiss Post team.
Damart views its collaboration with Swiss Post as a long-term partnership. Both sides are already working together to establish measures for periods of high workload to ensure optimal performance even during peaks in demand. And the next step in the company’s development is already planned: In two to three years, Damart aims to launch its own online store for Switzerland—in addition to its activities on marketplaces—with Swiss Post as its partner for this new phase of growth.
The Swiss Post team organized a visit to Damart back in September to become more familiar with the company’s culture, as well as to analyze its processes and operations so that they could contribute their expertise later, if necessary.
This was also a good opportunity to get to know the management team and lay the best possible groundwork for our future collaboration.
We work with standard interfaces to all common e-commerce platforms and ERP systems, and offer custom integration options via API and data upload.
