Press release from 15th March 2023
Change to the Board of Directors
Dominique Locher is to become the new Chairman of the Board of Directors at Farmy. He will take over from Adrian Bührer in April 2023. Farmy was able to recruit one of Europe's most renowned eFood specialists for the position. His task now is to help make the online farm shop that really has everything profitable.
Source: Farmy
“We are delighted to have found our new Chairman in Dominique, who provides us with support and competent assistance for the challenges ahead,” say the two Farmy founders Roman Hartmann and Tobias Schubert. Locher is an enthusiastic Farmy fan and has been a member of the Farmy AG Board of Directors for almost three years. He has also been one of the young company's investors since 2018.
On the road to profitability
Dominique Locher is looking forward to his new role, whilst being well aware of the challenges ahead: “Online Food has had quite a wild ride in recent years thanks to Covid. Farmy was able to more than triple its turnover during this time. The task now is to consolidate the successes and consistently implement the path to profitability set by the Board of Directors.” The founders and the entire Board of Directors are confident that Farmy will be able to strengthen and further expand its position as the number 3 Swiss e-grocery provider as a healthy and profitable company by the end of 2024.
Farmy's market share has grown steadily over the past few years; new initiatives are planned to continue this path in order to become profitable as quickly as possible. The corresponding strategies have been approved and various talks with growth investors are in full swing. The doors are open for further new investors.
Offers and customer loyalty
In order to reach the next stage of growth the Swiss online food market is particularly pushing the expansion of the product range, the introduction of the “Farmy Family” club (with targeted and affordable offers for young families), as well as a new fee structure - which has already led to an increase in customers’ shopping baskets. The focus will also be directed even more towards customer loyalty.
Roman Hartmann comments: “We don't just want customers who shop at Farmy. We want Farmy fans: products, delivery, experience… and prices. Everything should be excellent so that customers enjoy ordering at Farmy over and over again. By expanding our product range, we also cover a wider spectrum. So no one has any reason to shop at the competition any more.”
Farewell to Adrian Bührer
The retiring Chairman of the Board of Directors, Adrian Bührer, has been a Farmy companion for many years. Bührer’s resignation from the Board of Directors is at his own request. Since the founding of Farmy, he has always been involved: as the first customer, the first investor and from the beginning as Chairman of the Board of Directors he has accompanied and supported the two founders Tobias Schubert and Roman Hartmann. He would now like to concentrate more on his venture capital company. “Without Adrian, Farmy would not exist today. We thank him from the bottom of our hearts for his services at Farmy,” Tobias Schubert emphasises.
Best conditions for Farmy
The young Swiss company is not only the most popular and sustainable B2C company in Switzerland according to statista. Farmy was also able to achieve a turnover of CHF 31 million in 2022 and thus an average annual growth rate of 53 % over the last four years.
In addition to the above-average rating of 103.6 points from B Corp, the online farm shop also launched a very successful crowdinvesting campaign in autumn last year. In fewer than five days, more than CHF 4 million was raised from over 1,850 Swiss citizens.
Source: Farmy
Minimum order value, sustainability and cost reduction
The aforementioned changes in the fee structure are, on the one hand, the introduction of a small order surcharge, which has already increased the average order value by more than 20 % to CHF 145. In addition, the minimum order value has been raised to CHF 79 as of the 2nd order, which not only leads to larger orders but ultimately also scores in terms of sustainability. Fewer, larger orders cause lower emissions compared to the many smaller orders that are shipped out.
In order to further reduce costs, around 30 % of the workforce was cut in the second half of 2022.
Farmy Solutions helps with Alnatura launch in Germany
And the SaaS vertical “Farmy Solutions” is also enjoying success with its first major customer outside Switzerland. After the successful launch of the pilot Alnatura Super Natur Markt Online in Berlin in June 2022, the delivery service was expanded to 15 stores in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main.
About Farmy
Farmy is the online farm shop that really has everything and offers fresh and authentic food with transparent origins. The offer includes a large selection of hand-picked products from more than 1,200 authentic producers. Thanks to the excellent logistics concept, Farmy delivers them incomparably fresh, time-saving and directly to your doorstep throughout Switzerland. The assortment ranges from a wide variety of fruits and vegetables – mostly in organic quality – to an extensive cheese assortment from Swiss cheese dairies, the largest offer of fresh meat in butcher quality, crispy delicacies and sweet temptations from real bakers and confectioners, to flowers, wine, pantry products and drugstore items.
Press contact
Roman Hartmann (Co-CEO and Co-Founder)
Mobile: +41 76 215 27 62
E-mail: roman@farmy.ch
The media release in all language versions as well as pictures is available for download here.
