Polish online furniture and interior décor retailer Selsey takes up 11,500 sqm in Panattoni’s City Logistics Wrocław I

Panattoni, the industrial real estate market leader, has launched its latest project for the e-commerce sector. The Polish online furniture and home décor store, which has been undergoing rapid expansion, has leased 11,500 sqm in City Logistics Wrocław I. The facility will be used to fulfil the online orders of the company, which supplies goods to ten European markets. The building has been constructed according to BREEAM ‘Very Good’ specifications. Axi Immo brokered the signing of the lease transaction.

Panattoni driving development. City Logistics Wrocław I is ideal for e-commerce and so Polish company Selsey, which specialises in internet sales of furniture and home décor items, has secured an excellent location – in the heart of Europe and close to both the southern and western borders of the country. Its new facility will be used for processing online orders for the ten European markets Selsey currently operates in – including Germany, Romania, Belgium and Italy.

“We needed modern warehouse space to upgrade our existing infrastructure and logistics operations,” explains Mirosław Mikołajczak, the CEO of Selsey.pl. “We have been expanding rapidly and so our cooperation with Panattoni is a response not only to our needs but also to our customers’ expectations. We believe that thanks to this we will be able to speed up the processing of our orders significantly and also have space for the development of new product categories, such as garden and smaller products, which we are currently investing in,” he adds.

The company has leased 11,500 sqm in the park in Wrocław, of which 10,971 sqm will be warehouse space and around 500 sqm will be offices. The need for the modern facility arose due to the company’s rapid development – Selsey has been growing by 50% each year. The company is now included in the Financial Times 1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies 2020 ranking, where it is listed in 23rd place among e-commerce companies. It was Panattoni’s online retail experience that clinched the deal for Selsey, which will be operating on space with such environmental features as LED lighting and electric car charging stations. The facility, which was completed in the fourth quarter of this year, was built in line with BREEAM ‘Very Good’ certification.

According to a report published in July by PKO Bank Polski. E-commerce’s share in furniture sales across the world has been growing rapidly, accounting for 7.9% of the total in 2019, while the revenue it generates could reach 10.8% of the total by 2023. The situation is even better in Poland, where the share of e-commerce in such revenues is set to increase over this period from 7.7% to 12.3%. In addition to that, furniture exports from Poland grew from EUR 9.85 bln to EUR 13.12 bln in 2015–2019. As Damian Kowalczyk the Development Director of Panattoni comments: “This shows how perfectly Selsey has gauged the direction the sector is going in, as the market continues to expand, and we are very happy that we can contribute to this growth,” and then adds: “At City Logistics Wrocław I, the coming together of the expertise of two specialists in the field of e-commerce and the experience of both parties is bound to pay off, while the Polish economy itself will also benefit from the activities of such companies as Selsey.”

The location of City Logistics Wrocław I will form a key aspect of Selsey’s international operations. The park is located near the Wrocław Motorway Bypass and 2 km from the A4 motorway, which runs between Poland’s southeastern border and Germany in the southwest – a distance of around 160 km. There is also an airport 13 km from the complex. The location of the park also has other advantages. Thanks to it being only 8 km from Wrocław city centre, it can be easily reached by public transport. The location will also provide the company with excellent exposure.

Selsey’s new premises have been delivered in the second construction stage of City Logistics Wrocław I, which brings the area of the complex up to around 48,000 sqm. Eventually, the park will comprise six warehouse halls with a total area of more than 100,000 sqm. The architectural design of the park allows for the flexible adaptation of the space to the requirements of each tenant, both in terms of the technical specifications as well as the individual production, storage, social and office areas. The flexible interiors of the buildings are complemented by the spacious manoeuvring areas and the convenience of the parking facilities.