FAN Courier estimates a turnover of 250 million euros for 2023, up 15 percent compared to last year. In 2023, one of the important directions was international development, an effect of the significant increase in online trade and the large number of international retailers that deliver to the Romanian market or are interested in increasing their presence in Romania.
FAN Courier has invested over 4 million euros in the first international HUB dedicated exclusively to e-commerce, in Arad. The total investment budget of FAN Courier this year was 35 million euros.
“We can characterize 2023 as better than 2022, despite the fact that we had important cost increases, high inflation and a rather difficult situation near the borders. Despite the prolongation of the problems from 2022, this year things settled down, were more predictable, so we were able to implement the planned investment strategy and, in addition, we managed to complete an investment that was not in the plan originally: the international HUB from Arad. The interest of international sellers in the Romanian market is a trend that has turned into a certainty in 2023. The data show us that, this year, the significant growth of e-commerce was strongly supported by vendors outside of Romania who generated volumes with 20 -25% higher, compared to local vendors. To meet the needs of customers abroad, the development of an exclusive HUB for international online commerce was a natural one. We made decisions quickly, created a dedicated team and allocated over 4 million euros for this HUB, which we will equip with a modern sorting belt. Thus, we can say that the Arad HUB is the newest and fastest investment that FAN Courier has made this year, and the results so far confirm that we made a good decision”, said Adrian Mihai , CEO and co-founder of FAN Courier.
Other projects that FAN Courier focused on this year were the start of work for the expansion and modernization of the warehouse in Ștefăneşti – a project that will be completed in 2024, the acceleration of the pace of expansion of the FANbox locker network, as well as the continuation of investments in digitization, which include a new website and an update of the selfAWB platform. This year the company also launched a new mobile application which, through the multiple functionalities it contains, becomes a “modern courier assistant, always at hand”. With the help of the mobile application, customers can manage and control their shipments more easily: they can track deliveries, call the courier, access the history of sent and received parcels, etc. This year, the company also focused on the development of out-of-home delivery services, reaching a network of 2,500 parcel pick-up and drop-off points in the Collect Point network.
For next year, FAN Courier aims to maintain the growth rate of 15 percent, which it considers a healthy, organic rate, part of the company’s development philosophy. Forecasts for 2024 are optimistic, with the company set to open new opportunities for cross-border e-commerce and penetrate more international markets.