Alongside the big brands, Cathedis is a start-up specialized in logistics for e-commerce platforms. It guarantees a strategic interest to small e-merchants. “They are estimated to account for 70% of the market and ship between one and five orders per week on average,” says Imad El Mansour Zekri, founder and CEO of Cathedis. He aspires to support small e-retailers to exploit the enormous potential of online sales without worrying about the logistics aspect.
“While e-merchants or emerging brands have dominated the commercial side, e-logistics remains another issue. Delivering items, in good condition and as soon as possible, is the main challenge of e-commerce. This is the backbone of the war ”, underlines Imad El Mansour Zekri. He adds it nearly two million parcels are delivered to the Moroccan market every month after online purchases for a turnover equal to 1 billion dirhamsinsisting that the little e-merchant must find his place there.
This is why the start-up has just been launched Cathedis Academy, which offers face-to-face and remote support to e-merchants in several key areas such as digital marketing, e-commerce, business development, project management and commercial law. This will allow them to keep up with new consumer habits and the pace of spectacular online order growth.
The training is delivered at the Cathedis headquarters in Casablanca, with an area of 400 m², by experts in digital marketing, e-commerce or supply chain.
“Two sessions will be launched in 2022 at the rate of ten e-merchants per session. The call is underway and will close on 30 June 2022. The second will be launched in October 2022 ”, explains the founder. The first candidates will be selected on July 15, 2022.
Increase its performance in terms of services
With a budget of 300,000 packages delivered in 2021, Cathedis is preparing a second round of financing, four years after its creation and two years after a first round of three million dirhams financing in 2020 with CDG Invest, as part of the program. 212. Founders.
“We are going one step further to reach our ambitious roadmap and achieve a total annual flow of 3 million parcels by 2024,” says Imad El Mansour Zekri. “All the direction indicators are green. We want to remain competitive in the face of increasingly fierce competition, ”he continues. The start-up claims a three-digit average annual growth in the past three years. It intends to maintain this pace in the face of the evolution of the e-commerce sector, accelerated by the health crisis.
This fundraising should allow the start-up to perfect its technological solution, developed internally with the aim of optimizing the efficiency of its logistics and reducing time and costs. “It is a digital platform that manages stock, orders and returns for more than 500 customers. It can be linked to CMS e-commerce sites such as Magento or Prestashop. The improvement of its functionality will facilitate the daily activities of our operators and our customers “, adds the founder.
Furthermore, to structure and energize order processing operations, the integration of automated sorting solutions has established itself in the face of the exponential growth in shipping volumes, due to the explosion of online purchases. The start-up therefore has a parcel sorting center in Casablanca, designed on a total area of 1,200 m2, which “offers a processing capacity of 10,000 parcels per hour”.
It is an automatic circuit that scans and distributes products based on destinations to distribute them in five regional agencies: Agadir, Rabat, Marrakech, Tangier, Casablanca. Products are then loaded into a fleet of motorcycles and vehicles based on need and package volume. 170 agents cover the national territory and serve more than 160 destinations.
The automatic control of the product is carried out by means of a warehouse management software, also developed internally, which manages the logistic flows for both the receiving and shipping parts. This solution therefore allows you to gain agility and speed while ensuring traceability in real time.
The start-up now employs more than 200 people with different roles: preparer and packager, engineers, technicians and support functions. It intends to recruit other profiles, particularly in the technology sector to meet the needs of the market.