Chemist Warehouse teams up with Cohesio Group (Körber) for same-day delivery solution

In response to the changing demands of consumers and a record peak in online orders during COVID-19, Australia’s largest pharmacy retailer, Chemist Warehouse, has teamed up with Cohesio Group (Körber) to launch a same-day delivery service for its 1.5 million weekly customers.

Established in 2002, Chemist Warehouse has grown to become Australia’s largest pharmacy retailer. Operating more than 500 stores across the nation, the leading retailer now services more than 1.5 million customers and dispenses almost a million prescriptions per week.

Since COVID-19, Chemist Warehouse has experienced a huge increase in online orders, reaching higher levels than previous Black Friday and Christmas peaks.

As a result, the retailer has launched Click and Deliver, a new same-day delivery service from Chemist Warehouse and Cohesio Group to offer customers flexible and convenient delivery options. The new solution will complement the retailer’s previous sophisticated Click and Collect offering.

“We wanted to ensure that we could offer our customers the safest possible option to shop during COVID-19 restrictions. We knew that for many they felt it was a risk to leave their homes and shop in the traditional way, so we approached Cohesio Group to help us develop our existing Click and Collect solution to become a Click and Deliver solution,” Mark Finocchiaro, Managing Partner and Director, Chemist Warehouse Group said.

The solution was developed in four-weeks by Melbourne-based technology provider Cohesio Group and the first stage has been rolled out across all of Chemist Warehouse’s stores in Australia, with New Zealand set to follow.

Chemist Warehouse and Cohesio Group have worked together since 2017, with Chemist Warehouse deploying Cohesio’s dedicated retail software, Ignito, to power its Click and Collect processes.

Since Chemist Warehouse introduced Cohesio’s Ignito software solution in 2017, the retailer has increased order fulfilment throughput rates by up to 30 per cent and has since used the software to fulfil up to 150,000 online orders a month.

“Chemist Warehouse stores are unique in that they tend to be very large facilities and hold a huge amount of inventory. We recognised that this created the perfect opportunity to fulfil orders in store, rather than from a DC,” Rizan Mawzoon, Head of Transformation at Cohesio Group said.

“This kind of fulfilment is on the rise as e-commerce continues to take up a larger percentage of the retail spend. We knew this kind of approach would work very well for Chemist Warehouse and we’re absolutely thrilled with the results,” Nishan Wijemanne, CEO of Cohesio Group said.

When a customer selects an order on the Chemist Warehouse website or app, the Chemist Warehouse Order Management System (OMS) will check the stock levels in the stores closest to that customer to fulfil the order.

The app will also profile the consumer and recognise if they have previously visited or ordered from a particular local store.

“The system then sends a message to the store inventory team and communicates which orders are for Click and Deliver, and which are for Click and Collect,” Rizan said.

“We recognise the critical role that we play in keeping Australians healthy and giving them access to essential goods for the benefit of their health. We knew we needed to come up with a solution that reduced anxiety and risk for the most vulnerable members of our communities. Cohesio rose to the challenge and we are proud to be able to keep serving our customers with flexible and convenient delivery options,” Mark Finocchiaro, Managing Partner and Director, Chemist Warehouse Group concluded.

Cohesio Group is part of international technology group Körber. Kӧrber’s supply chain expertise, spanning software to materials handling equipment, also includes Aberle, Aberle Software, Cirrus Logistics, Consoveyo, DMLogic, HighJump, inconso, Otimis, Langhammer, Riantics and Voiteq. All companies will transition to the Kӧrber brand in Fall of 2020. Körber is home to more than 2,300 professionals and nearly 100 strategic partners across the globe dedicated to conquering supply chain complexity. With 30+ years of experience, Körber has proven success with thousands of companies worldwide.