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Simplifying logistics may be at the core of GoBolt’s success and rapid growth, but their solutions are anything, but simple.
An end-to-end logistics provider headquartered in Toronto, ON, GoBolt provides warehousing, pick and pack, shipping and last-mile delivery services to mid-market and enterprise brands. Their goal is to provide solutions that are efficient, cost-effective and sustainable across a supply chain network that spans 12 key markets throughout Canada and the United States.
Behind the scenes, their operations are driven by internally developed software that maximizes efficiencies on all fronts. In addition, the company’s carbon-neutral last mile offering prioritizes delivery in electric vehicles (EV) and sequesters equivalent carbon emissions when that option’s not possible.
With this combination of efficiency and sustainability, it’s no wonder that more than 350 industry-leading brands—including companies such as IKEA and Holt Renfrew—have placed their trust in this young company. After all, in the world of e-commerce, your brand is only as good as your ability to deliver the goods—literally.
GoBolt’s innovative, tech-driven approach has resulted in 823% growth in the last four years. It’s a trajectory that’s earned them a coveted spot in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 program for 2024, in the Enterprise-Industry Leaders category.
When inefficiency leads to efficiency and growth
So, what set co-founders, Mark Ang and Heindrik Bernabe on this growth path, including expansion into the U.S. market? Like so many business journeys, theirs began with the desire to overcome a fundamental challenge.
“We started out as a consumer storage company. Back then, one of the biggest problems we faced was having to rely on inefficient third-party logistics providers. So, we developed our own custom logistics software to streamline operations and ensure we had control over the entire process. That changed everything,” says Ang, who’s also the company CEO.
By building their own scalable logistics solution, GoBolt quickly realized the same model could work for brands. The key selling point being efficiency and scalability, with the net results of faster and cheaper delivery of goods. But they needed more capital to turn this vision into reality.
GoBolt turned to Export Development Canada (EDC) in 2019 to support their growth. To access more capital from their bank, they leveraged EDC’s Export Guarantee Program, which provides a guarantee to financial institutions to cover part of the risk associated with a new loan or increased line of credit.
To free up more working capital, GoBolt used EDC’s Account Performance Security Guarantee—a solution that provides a guarantee to financial institutions to cover the full collateral requirement associated with letters of guarantee.
Consumer demand driving change
The company’s decision to introduce EVs to their last mile service was made, in large part, to meet changing consumer sentiments, increasingly focused on sustainability.
Still, an EV isn’t the full answer. For GoBolt, technology is the driver, so to speak. According to Ang, their homegrown software gives them the edge. “By factoring in countless complex variables, we’re able to determine the optimal route. But the real kicker is the logarithmic development path it offers. The more kilometres we cover, the smarter we get and the better we become.”
The result: A high customer satisfaction rating on Google. With real-time truck tracking features and flexible address change options on the day of delivery, the relative logistics newcomer is a hit with online shoppers.
Fuelling market-share growth
In addition to route optimization, GoBolt’s technology enabled the company to lower prices with a level of accuracy that enabled them to score considerable increases in market share. By 2022, the company faced a key inflection point: They needed substantial capital expenditure funding to support their U.S. market expansion and growth of their EV fleet deliveries.
EDC stepped in with a direct investment that allowed them to execute on those initiatives and provided a cash buffer to build out their operations, enabling them to unlock additional growth potential in North America.
Shifting gears on environmental benefits in a changing market
There’s a critical mindset shift that’s taking hold. At the consumer level—all things being equal in price and quality—buyers will often choose the more sustainable brand over the heavier carbon emitters.
According to a recent survey by PwC, 46% of consumers are buying more sustainable products as a way to reduce their personal impact on the environment. Some are even willing to pay a sustainability premium of close to 10%—even in the face of cost-of-living and inflationary concerns. In addition, Scope 3 emissions (those a company is indirectly responsible for across its value chain and produced by both its suppliers and customers) can account for up to 90% of a company’s total emissions, including emissions from transportation and distribution.
To earn consumer confidence and sales, and meet their corporate emissions targets, it’s critical for brands to establish the right supply chain partners. Choosing wisely can have a direct impact—providing better control and visibility into their back end, as well as greening their operations.
GoBolt’s EV fleet was instrumental in landing IKEA as one of their anchor customers. The home furnishing global retail giant had committed to reaching 100% zero emission deliveries by 2025, and saw GoBolt as a partner that could help them achieve that goal.
Scaling impact through growing U.S. customer base
For an EV fleet to truly have impact, it all boils down to scale. Having the vehicles is great, but with low or modest volumes, the impact is small and it’s hard to justify the investment in technology.
Ang readily admits that GoBolt doesn’t exist without volume flow, which is where the United States plays a pivotal role. Recently, the company won two large-volume shipping accounts—each with more than 50,000 deliveries per day across the U.S.
Following strategic discussions and a deeper understanding of GoBolt’s growth strategy in the U.S., EDC’s International Business Advisory (IBA) was engaged to review and validate GoBolt’s list of target customers in Houston and Los Angeles. Under co-development of the targeted customer profile with GoBolt, the research included a list of top prospects with shared sustainability focus in each market.
That list was shared with the Trade Commissioner Services (TCS)—an important player in Canada’s trade team—and resulted in GoBolt, EDC and TCS cultivating a share of the targeted connections in each market.
GoBolt was so encouraged with the results, they used EDC’s IBA methodology to further refine their business development efforts for other key U.S. markets.
Going the extra mile
When it comes to future growth, GoBolt sees the continued adoption and expansion of sustainable practices as critical to maintaining a competitive advantage.
Electrifying the last mile is only one of five key sustainability initiatives the company has operationalized. When completing delivery in an EV isn’t possible, GoBolt supports verified nature restoration projects to sequester carbon emissions. By leveraging their homegrown tech routing system, they’re able to cut down on fuel consumption and emissions.
In addition, GoBolt is actively engaged in supporting and promoting the circular economy. They’ve developed a partnership with the Furniture Bank Network, which helps their home furnishing and bedding retail customers redirect returned or unsellable household items back into the community.
And all of their packaging materials are sourced from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified suppliers and are made from 100% recycled, starch-based biodegradable products.
Communicating their performance on each of these practices is something GoBolt takes very seriously. Every month, the company publishes a sustainability update where they report on their key metrics. To Ang, going public on a regular basis is a way to add a layer of accountability to themselves, their team, customers, and their customers’ customers.
The virtue of small steps in sustainability
For companies looking to embrace more sustainable practices in their own operations, Ang stresses the importance of setting up small wins to create momentum. As a business owner, you may have lofty goals, but it’s critical to operationalize them into more bite-sized pieces, he says.
Equally important is communicating objectives to your team and partners. Bringing everyone into the fold typically nets huge returns in developing great ideas and building on the momentum started by small wins.
Being authentic and earmarking substantive goals are essential to avoid the taint of greenwashing. It’s more effective to pick one initiative where you can have real impact—or that your employees and customers can truly rally behind—than to have a list of activities with questionable results.
For GoBolt, the correlation between sustainability, growth and profits has been clear from the start. Early on in the company’s journey, they decided to take the road less travelled—one filled with innovation and good intentions—and it has made all the difference.
The content for this customer profile was sourced from the company website, interviews and other third-party resources, but EDC hasn’t independently verified the information or data.
