Fillogic opening mall-based distribution hubs

NEW YORK – Fillogic, which provides logistics services for retail, plans to open tech-enabled micro distribution hubs at select major retail properties owned by top-tier mall owners and operators.

Fillogic staff based at each property go to nearby retail stores to pick up merchandise purchased online. Fillogic staff then aggregate and pre-sort the items by freight delivery network and ZIP codes for convenient, consolidated pick-up by parcel carriers.

Today more than 60 percent of mall-based retailers currently have ship-from-store capability, with malls averaging 950 to 3,200 packages shipped daily.

“As mall owners continue to evolve and shift their operations to support retailers’ multichannel sales efforts, Fillogic is the mortar that connects clicks to bricks,” said Bill Thayer, Fillogic’s co-founder and co-CEO.

“Property owners, retailers and freight delivery networks have long inhabited the same ecosystem, but until now they have not operated as an integrated network. Our mall-based solution is designed to aggregate demand and maximize efficiencies for each of these three stakeholders in an era when store-based e-commerce fulfillment is increasing dramatically.”

Five major retail properties – four in New Jersey and one in Connecticut – will be the first locations for Fillogic Hubs to open by July 1. These include Deptford Mall (Macerich), Paramus Park (Brookfield Properties), Stamford Town Center (Taubman), and two other regional properties.

Fillogic plans to scale up quickly with 10 major mall locations in the area set to be open by the end of 2020.

“While ship-from-store orders continue to rise, stores are not designed to function like warehouses and store associates are not optimized for fulfillment functions,” said Rob Caucci, Fillogic’s co-founder and co-CEO.

“Fillogic, with our in-mall locations, on-site staff and proprietary logistics software, helps meet retailers’ growing needs to more efficiently distribute merchandise to their online and offline shoppers. Our mall-based distribution centres, located just a short distance away from the majority of retailers’ customers, enable retailers to provide faster delivery of virtually any product they sell.”

Fillogic was co-founded in 2018 by Bill Thayer, a senior retail and logistics executive with more than 30 years of experience and positions ranging from COO at Loehmann’s to technology consultant for Macy’s, Century21 and more, and Rob Caucci, a serial tech entrepreneur with experience at top companies ranging from Danone to Booz Allen Hamilton.