2025 was not an easy year for retail. While growth across the market remained relatively steady, the environment itself stayed volatile. Economic headwinds, geopolitical uncertainty and changing consumer demands continued to put pressure on supply chains, margins and decision-making.
For Worldpack, that volatility reinforced the need to stay relevant. Not by instantly reacting to every external shift, but by strengthening the fundamentals and making deliberate choices about how the organisation needs to evolve.
According to General Manager Teun, 2025 marked the beginning of a new phase.
“I think 2025 was the year we consciously started preparing for the next chapter of Worldpack. Based on the plans we made in 2024, and the lessons we learned when retail briefly rebounded, we accelerated our continuous improvement towards a more future-proof organisation that's agile enough to swiftly respond to changes in the market.”
From operational strength to sharper customer focus
Worldpack has long been recognised for its strong operational performance, ensuring stores receive the right materials at the right time every day. That reliability remains a given. But customer conversations throughout 2025 made one thing increasingly clear. Doing the basics well is expected.
“Customers consistently tell us they’re very satisfied with our operational performance,” Teun explains. “But the real question is where we add value beyond that.”
That insight led to changes at the front of the organisation. The customer-facing function was reshaped with a stronger focus on proximity, insight and structured dialogue. The aim was to be closer to customers, understand their challenges better and translate those insights into tangible improvements.
“We want to be present where it matters, close to our customers, grounded in their reality and able to act on what we learn.”
This shift resulted in deeper conversations and the development of new initiatives and product / service innovations that likely would not have emerged otherwise, all while maintaining the operational reliability Worldpack is known for.
Leadership, culture and creating room to perform
Internally, 2025 was also a year of reflection on leadership and culture. Insights from consecutive Great Place to Work surveys highlighted a familiar tension. Ambition only works if people are properly supported to realise it.
“If you have big ambitions, you also need to facilitate them,” says Teun. “That means hiring the right people, giving clarity on expectations and allowing leaders to truly lead, not just operate.”
Gradually, the organisation is moving towards clearer roles, more autonomy and stronger ownership. Managers will increasingly step into leadership roles, creating direction rather than managing every operational detail.
That evolution is essential for sustainable growth, especially in a business where performance depends on both people and process.
Technology as a foundation for reliability
On the operational side, Worldpack continued to invest in strengthening its digital foundation.
One example is the implementation of Slim4, a forecasting and inventory optimisation tool. While the initial rollout led to some short-term disruption, the longer-term value is already becoming visible.
“To guarantee near-100 percent availability in the future, we need to rely less on manual intervention and more on data-driven systems,” Teun explains. “But that data never stands alone. It becomes truly valuable when it’s enriched with what we hear from customers and what we see happening in the market.”
By combining system intelligence with human insight from customer conversations, operational experience and market signals, Worldpack aims to make smarter and more balanced decisions.
Further steps, including the move towards a dedicated Warehouse Management System, are designed to increase reliability and efficiency even further. Both are critical in a market where customers are highly cost-conscious and supply chain disruptions remain a reality.
2026: balancing customers, operations and people
Looking ahead, Teun sees three closely connected priorities for 2026.
- Becoming even more customer-centric
Expanding services and developing new forms of collaboration by engaging more deeply with customers. - Operational excellence, powered by technology
Using digitalisation and automation across key processes to increase reliability, efficiency and scalability. - People, culture and values
Bringing core values more visibly to life, embedding them in performance management and ensuring people can grow without burning out.
“People are what make Worldpack,” Teun says. “Culture and values aren’t abstract concepts. They directly influence how well we perform.”
The ambition: growth, pride and consistency
When asked what success looks like at the end of 2026, Teun’s answer is ambitious but grounded.
“I hope we can look back and see above-average performance, customers who truly feel we deliver on our promise, and people who are proud of what they’ve built while still feeling comfortable and supported.”
Key markers of success include high customer satisfaction, a strong employer reputation, a visibly improved logistics operation and leadership that keeps encouraging ownership, experimentation and innovation.
Reading the retail market and responding to it
Externally, Teun sees a retail market shaped by uncertainty, cost pressure and increasing regulatory demands.
“Procurement teams are operating on a knife edge,” he says. “They need partners who deliver value for money, consistency and control.”
For Worldpack, meeting that expectation starts with flawless basics, but it does not end there. Looking ahead, the focus is on further developing capabilities that help customers manage complexity.
- Data and AI-driven insights
Moving beyond reporting to explaining performance, identifying patterns and supporting better decision-making, while at the same time creating efficiencies and cost savings for both Worldpack and its customers. - More advanced, interactive dashboards
Giving customers clearer and more actionable visibility into performance and improvement opportunities. - Compliance support
Helping customers stay compliant with increasingly complex regulations such as EUDR, PPWR and CBAM without adding operational burden.
“Compliance may not be the most exciting topic,” Teun admits, “but for our customers it’s critical. If we can make that easier, we’re solving a real problem.”
Growing into a more mature, outward-facing brand
Alongside operational and organisational changes, Worldpack is also maturing as a brand. Not by changing its identity, but by becoming clearer about what it stands for and more deliberate in how that story is shared.
Rather than focusing on promotion for promotion’s sake, the emphasis is on relevance. Sharing insights, experiences and knowledge that help customers navigate an increasingly complex retail environment.
“We’re investing more in communication and marketing,” Teun explains, “but always with the intent to add value. Not to push messages, but to contribute something useful.”
As Worldpack continues to grow, this more outward-facing approach reflects confidence. Not in having all the answers, but in being a partner that is open about what it’s learning and where it’s heading.
It is a natural next step in the evolution of Worldpack, focused, thoughtful and built for the long term.
Realistic about the market, confident about what’s next
Retail will remain complex in 2026. Pressure on costs, regulation and supply chains will not disappear, consumer behavior is changing rapidly, and uncertainty will continue to shape decisions across the market. But complexity does not have to slow progress. It can sharpen focus, strengthen partnerships and push organisations to make better choices.
For Worldpack, the experiences of 2025 have created clarity and momentum. With a stronger foundation, deeper customer relationships and a clear belief in the power of people, technology and collaboration, we enter 2026 with confidence. Not because the road ahead is easy, but because we are better prepared to move forward together with our customers and build something that lasts.