La Fourche is only seven years old, but was a roller coaster of French startups. During this period, an online grocery retailer suffered from global epidemic, and the rupture of the venture -based quick commerce startup, which promised food delivery within 15 minutes, continued to rupture.
When he talks with La Fourche’s co-founder and CEO Nathan Labat, he does not spend too much time for Flink, Getir, Gopuff, Gorillas and all Q-commerce startups that have strengthened Europe around 2021. This is because the business model of La Fourche can be considered completely opposite to everything. Startups are also supported by VC, but they chose a different way.
Most of the inventory in La Fourche consists of a healthy and organic product with a long expiration date. Think of olive oil, diaper, cereal, shampoo and coffee beans.
“I classify it as three purchasing patterns. You have one purchase pattern. This is a quick refill. ‘What will you eat tonight?’ -The average order value is very low: € 20 to € 30. ”Labat explained.
“Then there are weekly patterns that make more plans and buy fruits, vegetables, and fresh produce,” he continued. “Then I have an inventory opportunity. This is to fill the cupboard for a month and a month and a half.
“This is three very distinct patterns. And we really have been clearly confirmed as a corporation. ”
The company provides only a few options for each product category, so it does not overwhelm the selection, providing a wide range of range of users’ needs. It also offers its own brand products.
In some ways, La Fourche has been trying to distinguish between products from traditional supermarket chains and delivery services.
“There is not enough consumer trust,” Labat said. “The overwhelming catalog with everything you already know as a consumer, which caused the injury of Yuka, a food health quality app.”
We earned 100 million euros
If you use the La Fourche, the customer will sign up for an annual membership fee. Currently, about 60 euros per year (current exchange rate is $ 65.50). After that, the customer will not pay the shipping cost for more than a specific threshold.
In the front, Labat is inspired by Costco and Thrive Market. (But Amazon Prime is probably the most familiar user in the delivery membership model). Join can also create brand loyalty, increase maintenance, and improve the average order value.
Instead of bombarding for subscriptions to get diapers, the other is to get all of these products from La Fourche for the other product that gets the other for fresh coffee beans and personal medical products.
Labat said, “Subscribe models are becoming more common. “You are interested in the food because you can provide something like a subscription to dominate everything.”
La Fourche’s indicators tend to support this assumption. The company currently has 120,000 members. On average, they order about 120 euros every month or 45 days.
La Fourche said that it will produce 100 million euros in total in 2025.
Startup’s unit economy is also improving. “We climbed from -15%to -9%of the EBITDA margin last year, and this year we are tracking from -2%.”
One of the reasons why the business model of La Fourche seems to work is that it expands well. The company does not need to increase marketing spending as marketing spending increases because most of the customers of La Fourche are recommended. New companies say that marketing consumes about 5%of revenue.
Another reason is that La Fourche has only one warehouse covering the whole country. It is now built using AutoStore’s technology as an automated warehouse. Labat said, “We have a relatively asset lighting model with a high recurrence rate.
In addition, 46%of LA Fourche customers live in the countryside. This is not a new company that provides services only to customers living in large cities because there are many options for grocery shopping.
Next, La Fourche wants to grow customer base in Germany. Recently, we launched an online organic supermarket according to the brand name Ackerherz. And if it can show that it can duplicate the model in another country, there will be more geographical expansion under the road.
