A new distribution center outside Gdańsk might not immediately sound like a customer journey story. But it reveals something important about where customer experience actually begins even though at first glance we might believe it starts when the customer first interacts with a brand through different touchpoints.

Pepco operates more than 4,000 stores across 19 European countries and has recently opened a new facility near the ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia in September 2026. Part of the site will function as a deconsolidation center, with the ability to unpack incoming containers in Poland and decide where products should go after they have reached Europe. The distribution center will also support hundreds of stores in Poland. Previously, those allocation decisions were made while stock was still in Asia (Reuters). Pepco had announced the facility in June as part of its European logistics expansion. The company says the center will support store growth, increase direct-to-store deliveries and help streamline transport routes and lead times across Northern and Central Europe. Pepco Group

Gdańsk isn’t the only new part in the infrastructure change. Pepco has also expanded its partnership with DHL Supply Chain across five European distribution hubs. In Bucharest, DHL took over operational management of Pepco’s distribution center in April 2026. The wider partnership includes five strategic distribution hubs across Europe, with CEE operations in Poland, Hungary and Romania, and is focused on product availability, faster delivery times and network performance. Pepco Group

Looking at this direction made me think about how many of the things a retailer eventually communicates to customers are determined much further back in the business. Availability is one of them. Delivery expectations are another. Whether a product reaches the right market, store or fulfilment point at the right time is another.

By the time a customer encounters an availability message, a campaign, a delivery estimate or an answer from customer service, a long chain of operational decisions has already happened behind it.

Three retailers, three ways of scaling

Pepco’s direction is particularly interesting when we look at two competitors Reuters identifies in European value retail: Action and LPP-owned Sinsay. Reuters. From the outside, their propositions look remarkably similar: broad assortments, affordable prices and convenient access. But some of their most visible growth initiatives show different ways of achieving that scale.

Sinsay is expanding the shopping universe. Alongside rapid physical expansion, LPP launched the Sinsay marketplace in September, opening the platform to external third-party retail partners and broadening the assortment available to customers. LPP

Action continues to expand the physical network supporting its store-led model. In March, the retailer opened its fourth distribution center in Poland. The 44,000-square-metre facility became Action’s 18th distribution center in Europe and can supply up to 180 stores in Poland and Germany. Action

Pepco, meanwhile, is making its supply chain more responsive as it expands. Its current investments include additional distribution capacity, deconsolidation and changes intended to reduce lead times and improve inventory allocation. Pepco Group

These aren’t three completely separate strategies. All three retailers are expanding their physical presence and investing in the infrastructure needed to support that growth. What is interesting is how differently they are approaching scale, even when the customer-facing proposition can look remarkably similar: more choice, low prices and convenient access. That might be worth a deeper look on its own. For now, Pepco’s logistics transformation raises a different question.

Where does a messaging problem actually begin?

Let’s consider a hypothetical example. A retailer launches a campaign telling customers that a new collection has arrived. The campaign is correct according to the launch plan.

But some stores are still waiting for stock. The customer doesn’t see the allocation decision, distribution center or delayed shipment behind that situation. Nor should it. They see a message saying the collection has arrived, and a store where it hasn’t.

From the customer’s perspective, the inconsistency is in the message. From inside the business, however, the problem could be somewhere completely different. Maybe the operation is working as intended, and the campaign went live too early. Maybe the campaign is accurate, but an operational delay prevented the business from delivering the intended experience. Or maybe information simply hasn’t travelled between teams and systems quickly enough.

Those are different problems. And rewriting the campaign would address only one of them. Pepco’s own business model helps illustrate why the operational layer matters. The company identifies careful stock management as important to consistent product availability and describes its integrated supply chain as part of ensuring reliable product delivery. It places these capabilities within what it calls operational excellence, which it connects to consistency in the customer experience. Pepco Group

This means Pepco provides a useful example of how much has to happen before the message reaches the customer. And this matters when evaluating any customer journey. When the promise and the experience fall out of sync, there are at least two broad possibilities. The business is delivering what it should, but the customer-facing information hasn’t caught up. Or the message reflects the intended experience, but the business isn’t consistently delivering it.

A Customer Journey Messaging Audit can help uncover where the promise, the message, and the actual experience are no longer aligned. It might not tell us exactly why that is happening, especially when the reason sits somewhere deeper in the business. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with the message itself. The problem is that the experience no longer matches it. In that case, rewriting the message isn’t necessarily the answer. We need to understand what created the gap in the first place, and if it even started with the messaging at all.

Sources

Reuters — 21 September 2026
Pepco bets on new Poland hub, long freight deals to build logistics resilience
https://www.reuters.com/business/pepco-bets-new-poland-hub-long-freight-deals-build-logistics-resilience-2026-09-21/

Pepco Group — 16 June 2026
Pepco expands European logistics capacity with new distribution center in Gdansk region
https://www.pepcogroup.eu/media-news/pepco-expands-european-logistics-capacity-with-new-distribution-center-in-gdansk-region/

Pepco Group / DHL Supply Chain — 4 May 2026
Pepco expands strategic partnership with DHL Supply Chain to strengthen distribution reliability and retail store supply across Europe
https://www.pepcogroup.eu/media-news/pepco-expands-strategic-partnership-with-dhl-supply-chain-to-strengthen-distribution-reliability-and-retail-store-supply-across-europe/

Pepco Group — Business Model
Pepco Group business model
https://www.pepcogroup.eu/about/business-model/

Pepco Group — Strategic Framework
Pepco Group strategic framework
https://www.pepcogroup.eu/about/strategic-framework/

LPP — September 2026
LPP Group launches the Sinsay marketplace
https://www.lpp.com/en/press-releases/lpp-group-launches-the-sinsay-marketplace/

Action — March 2026
Action opens fourth distribution center in Poland
https://company.action.com/pressreleases/action-opens-fourth-distribution-center-in-poland/

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Written by Iusti Ikert, Founder of In Between the Lines — a messaging and customer experience alignment studio for scaling product-led brands. I work with growing DTC companies to align brand promise, marketing, and operational delivery so they can scale without friction.

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