In Conversation with CEO and Founder of Heyer Logistics, Tobias Heyer
Tobias Heyer, currently living in Germany, is CEO and Founder of Heyer Logistics, a company offering interim management solution in the intersection of e-Commerce and logistics for logistic companies to capture 21st century growth opportunities.
Prior to that, he was the CEO and co-founder of DepotCity (a logistics service based in Cologne, Germany), a logistics platform for small and medium-sized enterprises, from June 2018 to October 2021.
Prior to this, he served DHL in different roles in Europa, Asia and North America.
LMT: You started your career in large, ‘traditional’ postal and logistics companies (DHL and Deutsche Post). What caused you to pivot from this ‘safe’ career path towards doing your own Last Mile start-up?
Indeed, I started my career with DHL, a large, if not the largest logistics company on earth. I am very thankful for the projects I worked on, and the learning I derived from my time there.
However, DHL is a big yellow tanker and is slower than other companies embracing changes in the industry. Since I noticed the logistic market is a resource of fundamental disruption, my ambition was and still is to actively embrace this change in a younger more digital environment
LMT: Tell us about your start-up, DepotCity? What is it, and how is it doing now?
A friend of mine and I founded DepotCity, a platform for warehouse and fulfillment solutions. We pivoted the company to provide dedicated fulfillment solution for D2C brands. Our aim was to build a bridge between tech-savvy D2C brands and traditional fulfillment companies through a plug and play It interface. After few years scaling the company, we partly sold it
LMT: Since DepotCity you’ve been picked up by a number of consultancies and VC’s interested in the Last Mile space. You’ve had the fortune of assessing very many ecommerce logistics, micro-fulfilment and warehouse/packaging/delivery robotics companies. What kinds of problems are the most exciting of these companies solving?
Indeed, I am in a fortunate position to support VCs and PEs assessing disruptive logistic models and help in the respective due diligence. I believe that the market is driven by various trends, including:
- accelerating automation in operations, both within a fulfillment site and last mile delivery
- leveraging modern day technology through the entire value chain, routing, planning, customer interaction
- use of renewable material in packaging
- customization of offering especially for D2C brands
- efficient space utilization in storage
- CO2 neutral operations, including carbon reduction and offsetting
I see that various startups and scale-ups are working on these trends, and enable both logistic companies and brands to utilize these solutions and improve day-to-day operations.
LMT: You’ve recently completed a piece of research looking at the European rapid grocery delivery market – a segment of Last Mile that’s come under a lot of pressure this year. What is the industry getting right, and what does it need to change?
The rapid grocery delivery market experience rapid growth over the last two years. Without generalizing too much, this growth was fueled by consumer demand and “cheap” money. Both seems to be changing.
Consumers might become more reflective whether its really necessary to get everything in just a few minutes. Furthermore, interest rates are rising and investors are less keen to fund companies that are loss making and won't reach profitability in the near future. Challenging times lie ahead for the rapid grocery delivery market.
LMT: You’ve worked on Last Mile projects in Europe, Asia and North America. Which regions or countries do you think are the most advanced (in terms of starting and scaling last mile solutions) and why?
All are very different regions; North America is fueled by a strong entrepreneurial spirit and better access to capital. Asia is more open to change regulation and thus embraces and utilizes new technology such as autonomous delivery robots. Europe is rather fragmented, with entrepreneurial clusters spread around the continent. It will be very interesting to see what concept / model will be most beneficial to fuel further development and embed them in to daily life of consumers and companies
LMT: What will you do next?
I will continue to play a small role in the industry. Whether in helping clients to understand the industry, helping companies to capture growth opportunities or start something new myself.