One of the most dynamically growing Slovak e-commerce start-ups, isklad, which thanks to its fully in-house developed software brings a comprehensive logistics and operational solution to any e-shop, has rented new warehouse space within the Karimpol’s logistics park in Senec. As the company’s growth has long been limited by the capacity of the current warehouse in Bratislava, relocation and expansion into new premises was a necessary step given the potential and waiting list of more than a hundred new e-shops from Europe and Asia.
“After thorough market research and evaluation of several options, isklad decided to rent 6,500 sqm of modern warehouse space with a call option for additional 3,200 sqm in the Bratislava Logistics Park delivered to the market by the Austrian developer Karimpol Group in 2018. With its parameters, the property excellently meets all isklad’s requirements, which enables the client to compete with any fulfilment centre in CEE region or across Europe. I am extremely glad, that we were able to negotiate attractive lease contract and thus to bring a real added value solution to a Slovak ambitious technological and logistics company during the initial stages of its growth,” says Tomáš Kulacs, Senior Consultant from Industrial Agency team at the real estate advisory firm JLL, who facilitated the transaction.
The park is located directly on the D1 highway only 24 km from Bratislava in the well-known and established zone Senec, which has for many years enjoyed a reputation of a logistics and industrial hub of European importance. “Bratislava Logistics Park is a home of many significant and well-known market players such as DSV or Coca Cola and we are very pleased to grow our tenant base with the addition of such a fast-developing innovative company. Our park provides “A” class warehouse space which fulfils the client’s highest expectation,” says Peter Šmitala, Project Manager at Karimpol Group.
Own e-shop management and the idea of developing proprietary software brought together two of isklad.eu founders seven years ago. In 2016, the company started providing fulfilment services and over the course of four years was able to help more than 100 e-shops, process 1.5 million orders and in 2019 achieve a turnover of €2.6 million. Among the established and satisfied isklad clients belongs e-shops such as SHOOOS.sk and Maxsport.
“When comparing with in-house managed operations, outsourcing via our company can bring significant cost savings to any e-shop at the level of 25 to 38 percent. The isklad e-shop services package offers a unique combination of fully-developed automated software together with warehousing solutions (a receipt of goods, stock and inventory management, software, manpower, logistics or online payments). The building of such comprehensive and reliable logistics infrastructure internally would be for any e-shop highly expensive and complex matter. Today, we serve 95 clients and process 31,000 orders per month, but for a longer period of time, we have been receiving at least 2 new inquiries form e-shops per day, which we had to reject due to limited warehouse capacity. Entering cooperation with the professional investment platform Crowdberry and renting a new warehouse in Senec are strategic steps for us before the planned expansion,” says Martin Mitošinka, isklad CEO.
The Crowdberry platform enables private investors from the Czech Republic and Slovakia to invest in modern companies and real estates, in which the firm sees potential and which truly contribute in raising of a society values, as well as in supporting of economic growth in both countries.
“We are convinced that isklad has the potential to become a leading provider of e-commerce infrastructure in the Central and Eastern Europe region. Its growth is directly proportional to the growth of the e-commerce market as well as to the volume of orders, which with the increase of storage capacity and full automation can eventually reach a value of several tens of millions. As a technology company, isklad has a significant advantage over its competitors, which in most cases operates on manual or less automated processes. isklad brings change and from the investment point of view, we positively perceive not only the attractiveness of the e-commerce segment but also the business strategy and experience of the isklad team. After 7 years of developing its own software, isklad has been transformed into an advanced logistics centre with a global reach. Thanks to its flexibility, it is enabled to cover the needs of both small and larger e-shops,” explains the company’s investment potential Michal Ondrišek, partner at Crowdberry.
“E-commerce has been one of the fastest-growing segments in recent years, is not only resilient to economic challenges but eventually powered by the current pandemic situation. The support of Slovak technological and logistics companies should be among the priorities of the Slovak economy because innovative companies such as isklad can build the most modern and competitive fulfilment centers in our country and thus attract e-shops and brands of international importance and reach. At JLL, we continue to actively search for such companies in order to bring them added value integrated services in the form of comprehensive market research, rental of premises under high-quality lease conditions or project management, with which they can subsequently support growth of the entire industrial and logistics real estate sector in Slovakia,” concludes Kulacs.
