Benzinga | Dec 14, 2021 08:03AM EST

DAVIDsTEA Reports Partnership With WIPTEC Pick, Pack & Ship To Outsource All Product Warehousing, Distribution, Shipping For US, Canada

DAVIDsTEA Inc. (NASDAQ:DTEA), a leading tea merchant in North America, is pleased to announce that it is partnering with WIPTEC pick, pack & ship ("WIPTEC"), a leading 3PL provider with state-of-the-art facilities in Longueuil, Quebec, to outsource all of its product warehousing, distribution and shipping activities for Canada and the U.S.

By adopting this new logistics model, DAVIDsTEA aims to significantly enhance its distribution capabilities and improve the customer experience across North America. DAVIDsTEA will now have the ability to scale its e-commerce business and improve delivery times -- facilitating services like same-day or next-day shipping in key markets, and providing support in managing the spikes in demand that are typical in fast-growing and seasonal businesses. This new model will support both the fulfillment needs of its 18 Canadian flagship stores, as well as help fuel the growth of its e-commerce activities in North America and Internationally.

"At DAVIDsTEA, our aim is to provide our customers with an engaging, personalized and frictionless customer experience -- both from a product and service perspective. Today's announcement marks a significant milestone for us, as we put in place a new operational model aimed at providing our Canadian, U.S. and wholesale customers with world-class fulfillment services, while also improving our overall operational efficiency," said Frank Zitella, President and Chief Operating Officer, DAVIDsTEA.

"We are proud to bring to DAVIDsTEA our passionate team's expertise, our LEAD WMS integrated management software, and our state-of-the-art fulfillment centre as they continue to build their unique customer experience," said Martin Ball, President of WIPTEC pick, pack & ship. "This agreement highlights our commitment to meeting the growing needs of our current and future clients, in addition to marking our determination to maintaining our strategic positioning in the market to remain a leader in the digital and technological transformation, which is currently affecting the retail sector. Faced with perpetual changes, we have everything in place to generate a mutually beneficial partnership with a company who shares the same values as we do, and whose business objectives are in line with ours."

DAVIDsTEA products are distributed from WIPTEC's 1,700,000-square-foot state-of-the-art fulfillment centre in Longueuil, Quebec. DAVIDsTEA has already realized encouraging results from this new operational model, with store inventory and wholesale orders shipping from the new world-class facility since September 2021. Since November 2021, US-bound and Canadian direct to consumer orders are also now fulfilled from the Montreal-area fulfillment centre.