Flaschenpost

Flaschenpost (operating as flaschenpost SE, Sentmaringer Weg 21, 48151 Münster, Germany) is a German online retailer that delivers beverages and, increasingly, everyday groceries to customers' apartment doors. Orders placed via the website or mobile app are delivered within two hours, with empty deposit bottles and crates collected and the deposit automatically credited. The assortment spans water, soft drinks, beer, wine and sparkling wine, spirits and hot drinks, alongside fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy and eggs, baked goods, meat and fish, canned and ready meals, snacks, frozen items, vegan products, household and cleaning goods, personal care and pet supplies.

The company operates a decentralised model: a separate GmbH is registered for each location, and each city has its own warehouse and its own delivery drivers, with up to roughly 400 employees per site according to the company. Operations began in Münster, expanded to Cologne in 2017 and to more than 20 further regions from 2018. From August 2020 the company piloted a weekly-grocery delivery service at its Münster home base. Its app offers live delivery tracking, pre-orders up to two days in advance, personalised recommendations and payment by SEPA, PayPal or credit card, and lists delivery coverage in cities including Berlin, Bremen, Dortmund, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne, Leipzig, Mannheim, Munich and Münster.

Founding story

Serial e-commerce entrepreneur Dieter Büchl, who had founded the printer-cartridge online retailer Media Concept in a garage in Oberhaching in 2002 (reported at EUR 80 million annual revenue when he left in 2011) and afterwards ran the pet-supplies shop Zoo24, conceived Flaschenpost out of his own need after failing to find a satisfactory beverage delivery provider. He founded Flaschenpost GmbH in Münster in July 2012 and launched the service in October 2014, self-funding it from the proceeds of his earlier ventures. Demand outgrew the operation, both operationally and financially, and Büchl shut it down after roughly three months. He spent about a year reworking the concept and relaunched in spring 2016.

Business model

Flaschenpost buys beverages at trade prices and earns on the margin rather than charging a delivery fee; product prices are somewhat higher than in conventional supermarkets. It also sells private-label products, the revenue from which accrues entirely to the company. Each location is operated through a separately registered GmbH with its own warehouse and in-house delivery drivers.

Retail margin on beverages and groceries sold through its own online shop and app, supplemented by higher-margin private-label products; no separate delivery fee is charged.

Traction

Reported delivery of up to 60,000 crates per day across 22 cities in 2020, around 7,000 employees in warehouses and at headquarters as of July 2020, and more than one million Android app downloads. Dr. Oetker was reported to have paid roughly three times annual revenue in the acquisition.

Latest developments

In November 2020 the Oetker Group announced it would acquire Flaschenpost for a reported EUR 800 million to EUR 1 billion, pending antitrust clearance; Oetker confirmed the intention to buy but not the price. Co-founders Weich, Plath and Huesmann were reported to earn around EUR 100 million directly from the deal.