Freetrailer Group A/S is significantly expanding its partnership with German building materials and do it-yourself-retailer Hass + Hatje under a new long-term agreement. The cooperation will grow from one to 17 locations across Northern Germany, strengthening Freetrailer’s regional density with an established partner.
The agreement with the Hass + Hatje Group covers ten hagebaumarkt locations and seven building centres.
A strong regional brand and a natural fit for Freetrailer
Hass + Hatje is a fourth-generation family-owned company with more than 90 years in the market and around 1,000 employees. The group operates building centres and hagebau stores with garden centres across Northern Germany, serving customers across building, renovation, DIY and garden projects with a strong focus on service and local customer relationships.
Larger purchases often come with an immediate need for transportation, making Freetrailer a natural part of the customer journey. With Freetrailer, Hass + Hatje can offer customers a simple way to get their purchases home, while the trailers are available to everyone in the local area. At the same time, the branded trailers extend Hass + Hatje’s visibility beyond the stores and support Freetrailer’s aspiration to become the natural choice for everyday transportation needs – wherever you are.
For Freetrailer, the expansion combines two important elements of the company’s growth model: growing with an existing partner and increasing density in a region where Freetrailer already has a partner network and operational setup.
Our goal is to help customers complete their projects, and that also means making it easy to get their purchases home. Customers do not always know in advance how much they will end up buying, particularly when it comes to building materials, garden products and larger items. With Freetrailer available directly at our locations, we can offer a practical solution exactly when the need arises and strengthen the service we provide locally.
I’m particularly pleased that this is an expansion of an existing relationship. Hass + Hatje is a strong regional brand with large-format locations and a customer journey where transport is often the final piece of the purchase. Going from two trailers at one location to approximately 48 across 17 locations tells us that the service is creating value in practice - for the partner and for its customers. The geography matters too. The locations are concentrated in Northern Germany, where we already have partners and an established operational setup. That gives us greater density and allows us to scale in a disciplined way. Technology makes Freetrailer scalable, but strong partner relationships are what make us relevant.
