How Thomann scales parcel claiming efficiency with claim.me

In the high-volume world of online retail, the stakes are high when it comes to ensuring seamless logistics. One misplaced parcel or a delayed delivery can tarnish a brand’s reputation and burden operations with costly claims and frustrated customers. For Thomann, a German high-volume online music retailer, solving this challenge has been central to supporting its rapid growth and keeping customer satisfaction high.

Thomann is a family business, founded in 1954 and headquartered in Treppendorf, Germany. It started online sales as early as 1996. In 2024 alone, the company recorded sales of around 1.5 billion euros and shipped products to more than 160 countries. Since then, it is Europe’s largest online seller of musical instruments.

A new era in logistics

Behind this success lies a robust logistics infrastructure – and increasingly, smart digital solutions that tackle operational friction. “We currently have a shipment volume of 6.8 million parcels, and the trend is rising”, says Daniel Lauerer, Lead Transport Manager at Thomann. “To avoid increasing the claim processing effort with the number of orders, we needed an improved overview and structured processes.”

That’s where claim.me came in. Since fall 2024, Thomann has significantly optimized its claims management processes with the help of this smart tool powered by Seven Senders. The results: streamlined processes, improved data transparency, and a scalable system that keeps up with increasing shipment volumes.

From DDP to data: A longstanding partnership evolves

Thomann’s relationship with Seven Senders began in 2018, when the company sought help navigating DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) shipping for Switzerland and the UK – two key but logistically complex markets. Since then, parcel volume to these countries has surged, with Switzerland seeing sales growth almost quadrupled since 2018 and the UK up 25 percent between 2020 and 2024.

Claim.me supports Thomann in one of the most operationally challenging areas of ecommerce: claims.

The problem was clear. Each carrier had its own unique claim processes, portals, and requirements. For a business operating at Thomann’s scale, this fragmentation was unsustainable. “We wanted to get rid of different processes at the various carriers”, Lauerer explains.

‘Claim.me: one system for all carriers‘

In November 2024, Thomann began piloting claim.me for DHL shipments in Germany. Within months, the solution was fully integrated across its operations, consolidating all claims management into a single, standardized interface.

With claim.me, Thomann’s logistics team no longer has to navigate a maze of carrier-specific forms, portals, and email templates. Everything – from claim submission to status tracking and appeals – is handled in one unified system.

‘We now only work from a single system’

“We can answer queries from carriers via the portal, view the status of claims at any time, and, if necessary, lodge an objection directly”, says Lauerer. “We now only work from a single system. The parcel service provider continues to pay out approved claims directly to us.”

This simplification has had a measurable impact. With between 15,000 and 20,000 claims expected annually, automation and centralized data have significantly reduced manual work and training needs – while increasing the team’s ability to respond quickly and intelligently.

From firefighting to forecasting

“Claims management is an important lever for improving things, both in terms of process efficiency and data transparency”, says Lauerer. Rather than firefighting issues, claim.me enables the Thomann team to detect patterns, optimize workflows, and ultimately prevent future problems.

And there is real money at stake. According to claim.me’s analysis, three in every 1,000 parcels cause issues, and 50 percent of those are eligible for reimbursement. At scale, these numbers matter: for every one million parcels, up to 150,000 euros in refunds could be recovered. For a company shipping nearly 7 million parcels a year, the financial upside is substantial.

Scaling smartly with automation

As Thomann continues to grow, scaling operations intelligently becomes crucial, especially in areas like claims, where growth traditionally correlates with increased headcount and complexity.

‘Automation helps to simplify things’

“It is not acceptable that with more and more parcels we tend to have more and more systems and employees dealing with claims”, says Lauerer. “Automation helps to simplify things. Colleagues in this area can use their time to focus on specific cases and investigate anomalies.”

The user feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. By simplifying communication with carriers and reducing reliance on spreadsheets or siloed systems, claim.me has freed up the team to focus on strategic improvement rather than operational overhead.

A model for the future of retail logistics

The success of the solution at Thomann underscores a broader shift in retail logistics—from fragmented, manual systems to connected, intelligent platforms that create value beyond delivery.

With plans to expand the use of claim.me to more markets and carriers, Thomann is laying the groundwork for a future in which claim management is not just about resolving issues—it is about learning from them. “We not only want to process individual claims efficiently but also learn more from the data and continuously improve”, says Lauerer.

It is a mindset that aligns perfectly with claim.me’s vision: to simplify international shipping through digital innovation and customer-centric service. According to Thomann, better claims management is not just about logistics. It is about delivering a better customer experience, building operational resilience, and creating space for sustainable growth.