With major clients in the food, perfumery, and cosmetics sectors, LS’s B2B, B2C, and Specialized Channel e-commerce activities in Portugal grew by 200% in 2020. Notably, coffee operations saw their sales triple in recent years.

The e-commerce sector continues to thrive worldwide, including the Iberian Peninsula. In 2021, according to eMarketer, e-commerce accounted for 18% of Portuguese consumers’ total purchases, marking a 27.6% growth compared to 2019.

This shift in consumer behavior has impacted not only sales channels but also distribution methods.

Luís Simões witnessed a 200% growth in its e-commerce operations in Portugal in 2020. During the first lockdown alone, this activity grew by 123%, reaching a daily average of 11,000 shipments.

“For almost a decade, e-commerce has been one of LS’s strategic areas, offering cutting-edge solutions to help clients adapt to the constant changes in the consumer market,” says Vítor Enes, Director General of Business Development at Luís Simões.

LS manages e-commerce operations for clients across various sectors, primarily food and beverages, perfumery, and cosmetics, including dedicated storage and pick-to-light order preparation for delivery through various channels: B2C (business-to-consumer), B2B (business-to-business), and Specialized Channel (stores).

Coffee: From the Bar to the Living Room

One example of this rapid evolution can be found in the consumption of coffee and infusions in Portuguese households. According to the Industrial and Commercial Coffee Association (AICC), 80% of the adult Portuguese population drinks coffee, and in 2020, over 6.5 million Portuguese aged 15 and older consumed at least one coffee daily at home. The pandemic naturally boosted the volume of food and beverages consumed at home, as well as their online purchase, and coffee was no exception.

Since late 2018, Luís Simões has been handling the logistics management of coffee capsules and machines for one of the best-selling brands in Portugal, processing 50,000 pallets of e-commerce orders (B2B, B2C, and Boutiques) for Portugal in 2020, representing a significant increase in sales over the past two years.

LS takes care of all the processes for this major consumer goods company, from essential services like product reception, batch control, and traceability to order preparation, shipment, returns management, and co-packing operations.

Specialization, Innovation, and Sustainability

Since 2013, Luís Simões has been offering specialized e-commerce logistics operations, including storage services, unit order preparation, packaging, administrative management, distribution, and even customer service. For this, it has a 17,500m2 area spread across logistics centers in Carregado and Azambuja, Portugal, and Cabanillas del Campo, Guadalajara, and Barcelona, Spain.

In terms of innovation, a significant milestone was the recent full inauguration of the Logistics Operations Center in the Puerta Centro – Ciudad del Transporte industrial estate in Guadalajara. With 5,350m2 dedicated to co-packing/e-commerce, the facilities feature the latest advancements in automation, such as pallet dispatch, designed to meet the high-volume operations of various clients.

LS also places a strong emphasis on e-commerce traceability, incorporating technologies that integrate all stages of the process, from barcode scanning to packaging management, and sustainability, with innovations in warehouses and transportation aimed at reducing pollutant emissions.

“E-commerce operations present different challenges than others, including high levels of order customization, tight delivery deadlines, and last-mile distribution. To address these profitably, efficiently, and sustainably, it’s crucial to have a logistics operator with specialized technologies and equipment to build a tailored distribution chain,” concludes Vítor Enes.