Last week, Estonian parcel locker and fulfillment robotics provider Cleveron and Itochu Corporation, one of the largest Japanese general trading companies, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost cooperation in IT and innovative last-mile technologies.
„The newly-signed agreement is an important step towards establishing a successful partnership between the two companies. Japan is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing e-commerce markets, making it a promising target market for Cleveron in 2020,” Cleveron’s co-founder Indrek Oolup stated.
With a turnover amounting to approximately US $114 billion, the Japanese B2C e-commerce market ranked fourth on a worldwide level. „We are excited to sign the MoU with Itochu Corporation to further develop the collaboration of our companies,” Oolup added.
The signing procedure took place in the presence of the Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (on the photo below with representatives of Itochu and Cleveron) during the Estonia’s prime minister formal visit to Japan last week.
PM Jüri Ratas stated that Japan is an important partner to Estonia with whom Estonia wants to establish even closer economic cooperation. “I hope that this visit will take our friendship to a new level and give a new impetus to cooperation between enterprises, exports and mutual investments,” Ratas said.
Itochu Corporation, founded in 1858, is one of the largest Japanese general trading companies. It has six major operational divisions specializing in textiles, metals/minerals, food, machinery, energy/chemicals and ICT/general products/real estate. Itochu was ranked 65th on 2019’s list of Fortune Global 500 companies with an annual trading revenue of US $104.63 billion.
Cleveron – one of the most successful companies in Estonia
Cleveron (read the case study here), founded in 2007, is an Estonia-based company that provides last-mile solutions for the world’s largest retailers and logistics companies. Cleveron’s 3,800 parcel terminals can be found in 24 countries across the world. On average, 1.3 million packages are delivered through the terminals each month. Cleveron’s clients include Walmart, Inditex (Zara), The Warehouse and Falabella.
Last year marked a very successful year for Cleveron, with two new products, numerous new markets and clients. Cleveron has launched a grocery robot and a most compact parcel robot to date – Cleveron 403, opened a robotics academy, expanded to new countries, and has been awarded as the best last mile delivery innovator and this year’s exporter of Estonia. Not surprisingly, the company was named one of Estonia’s TOP 3 most successful companies of the year by business daily Äripäev.
As one of the world’s most digitally enabled nations, Estonia has the best solutions in the fields of e-commerce and digital logistics. From data analytics and country single windows to mobile apps and delivery robots, Estonia improves supply chain efficiency and client experience from the first mile to last.
Read more about the digital logistics opportunities Estonia offers here or send us an e-Consulting request to get more detailed information.
