Zenfulfillment – How It All Started

The Zenfulfillment story began more than 12 years ago, back in 2012. At that time, our future founder, Daniel Werner, was working in the German logistics market as a Business Development Manager at Packlink. That career path took him through a number of roles, including Product Manager, and brought him into contact with Denis Ciccale — his future co-founder of Zenfulfillment.

In 2015, after wrapping up his time at Packlink, the idea took shape: start a company together with Denis. The two founders tried their hand at different things, from building software for law firms to freelance projects in e-commerce. But it wasn't until 2016, while working on a project, that they spotted an interesting gap in the market: Germany had no modern fulfillment provider. In the US, companies like Shipmonk and Shipbob made it easy for small to mid-sized shops to outsource their logistics, while Germany only offered traditional contract-logistics options aimed at the big e-commerce players. On top of that, onboarding with classical logistics partners was slow and cumbersome.

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That's where the founders saw their opportunity and decided to shake up the European fulfillment and e-commerce market. In 2017, Zenfulfillment was founded with one clear goal: deliver the best possible shipping experience for every e-commerce brand — no matter the size — in a way that's smooth, simple, and cost-effective.

The early days of Zenfulfillment, in our founding year, came with their share of highs and lows. One unexpected challenge came from our inexperience dealing with DHL. DHL Paket GmbH did not allow — and still does not allow — multiple e-commerce brands to be processed under a single business-customer contract, which led to a sudden halt in pickup and shipping. A medium-sized shock for us at the time. We had to switch parcel carriers on short notice, but we were able to resume shipping with DHL not long after. 

A defining turning point in the company's history came in mid-2017 with a strategic investment from FIEGE. That investment made it possible to open a warehouse in Berlin. In 2018, while working to consolidate warehouses and move them to a better site in Apfelstädt, our founders faced the challenge of efficiently shifting customer inventory across both warehouses to keep order-processing downtime to a minimum. Thanks to our committed team, that challenge was successfully met.

Our company culture at Zenfulfillment is shaped by core values like #ConsumerWOW, #Teamspirit, #Focus, #Innovation, and #Initiative . Regular all-hands meetings, OKRs, and check-ins keep the whole team on track. We don't just see ourselves as colleagues — we see each other as friends who celebrate wins together and spend our free time with one another.

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The founding of Zenfulfillment was inspired by industry giants like Amazon and other logistics companies. We look to both American and European logistics and tech companies for inspiration.

Exciting projects are taking shape for the future of Zenfulfillment, including the rollout of Dark Warehousing, positioning Zenrush® as the leading brand for fast shipping in Europe, and expansion into the American market. We see ourselves as pioneers in service and technology, and we're convinced that combination will keep us at the forefront of the e-commerce market.