Service Upgrade: Tanger Partners With Fillogic
Tanger is adding a new tenant to its outlet centers and it’s all about service.
Fillogic, a New York City-based start-up logistics platform, has opened what’s described as a “tech-enabled micro distribution hub” at Tanger’s Deer Park outlet center in New York. Tanger sees the Fillogic site at Deer Park as the model for situating additional Fillogic hubs in other Tanger Outlet centers around the country.
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“We are continuously looking for opportunities to innovate and improve our customer service,” said Stephen Yalof, chief executive officer of Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. “Our partnership with Fillogic allows us to take our fulfillment capabilities to the next level with even faster and more convenient delivery and return offerings.”
Yalof added that Fillogic will also allow Tanger “to further expand our strategic partnerships and tenant portfolio into categories such as furniture and hardgoods that benefit from on-site logistics, providing customers with prompt white-glove home delivery.” Tanger operates and owns or has an ownership interest in 36 upscale open-air outlet centers in 20 states and in Canada.
Fillogic offers a variety of shipping services, including same-day delivery for local residents, ship from store fulfillment, storing and shipping of direct-to-consumer orders, international shipping and aggregating shipments in trucks to save time and money for retailers.
Fillogic has hubs at eight shopping centers, including Deer Park, which is on the south shore of Long Island, as well as the Paramus Park mall in New Jersey, which is owned by Brookfield Properties, and Gloucester Premium Outlets, which is also in New Jersey and owned by Simon Property Group. At each property, Fillogic staff picks up merchandise purchased online and fulfilled through inventory from the center’s retail stores, and then aggregates and pre-sorts packages for “efficient, consolidated pick-up and delivery through the company’s proprietary Delivery Provider Network.”
“We’re a start-up. We’ve been around since 2018 and now we are taking on a lot of properties across different mall owners to provide logistics as a service for retailers,” Michael McDermott, Fillogic’s chief operating officer, told WWD. He said Fillogic is working with a total of six major mall owners.
McDermott said Fillogic plans to expand to 30 shopping centers this year. He declined to specify the future sites but did say they would be in such cities as Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta and San Francisco. Fillogics’s site at Deer Park is 5,600 square feet. Aside from the services that Fillogic provides, its hubs range from 5,000 to 50,000 square feet and will help fill vacated space in shopping centers due to store closings.
Fillogic pays rent to the landlords for its space and retailers contract with Fillogic for its logistics services. Fillogic also works with Happy Returns, which provides sites for shoppers to make returns to the group of retailers and brands that Happy Returns contracts with.
At Deer Park, Fillogic offers same-day deliveries within a radius of about 10 to 15 miles from the outlet center.
Another key service provided by Fillogic is international shipping. That’s particularly relevant to Tanger Outlets because its malls attract a higher percentage of tourists.
“We are very happy that our partners at Tanger Outlets share our common vision on the future of physical retail and the transformation driven by customer behavior and supported by logistics,” said Bill Thayer, cofounder and co-CEO of Fillogic. “Fillogic lowers fulfillment costs and improves delivery times by up to 65 percent for retail guests from the convenience of the local mall.”
Thayer, a senior retail and logistics executive, is a former chief operating officer at Loehmann’s, and a technology consultant for Macy’s and Century 21. His cofounder at Fillogic, Rob Caucci, is a serial tech entrepreneur with experience at Danone and Booz Allen Hamilton. Caucci also cofounded PijonBox, the subscription care package box for college students.
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