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We’ve seen a 50% increase in the number of Direct Despatch customers. Parcelhub’s delivery management platformhas been instrumental in achieving that. Hayley McAlinden, Online Sales Manager at Premier Housewares
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Earlier this yearWhistl acquiredmulti-carrier shipping and ecommerce specialists, Parcelhub. Here Hayley McAlinden, Online Sales Manager at Premier Housewares, one of the UK’s leading dropshippers and suppliers of home lifestyle products, explains howParcelhub has helped support their rapid expansion in the sector by streamlining their deliverymanagement operation through a single, smart platform.
the added bonus of enhancing our delivery performance. Plus collections are muchmore co-ordinated and flexible to our needs. It’s a win-win! Howhas it helped the growthof your business? We’ve seen a 50% increase in the number of Direct Despatch customers. Parcelhub’s delivery management platform has been instrumental in achieving that and has fuelled our expansion into the dropshipping market. With more andmore retailers looking for reliable suppliers that can store their inventory, fulfil orders and ship direct to their customers, having an agile, streamlined delivery management platform is pivotal to the success of our operation. We currently integrate with over 35 different Direct Despatch customers, and we’re delighted to say that list is growing all the time. Parcelhub is part of theWhistl Group and provides bespoke carriermanagement, customer services and fulfilment solutions for the ecommerce sectorwith technology that integrates seamlessly with retailers, brands andwholesalers. Formore information about Parcelhub services visit www.parcelhub.co.uk or call 0808 1686013.
match each label with the right product before it was packed. A lot of our products also weren’t being despatched on the most cost-effective delivery service which was wasting money. What difference has the platformmade to processing orders? Parcelhub looked at our current system and purpose-designed an integrated, automated label processing function for us. What used to take our team two hours, now takes just a couple of minutes. It means we can fulfil orders faster which has enabled us to increase the volumes we distribute and given us the confidence to introduce a Next Day delivery option alongside our 3 – 5 day service. Order visibility, postcode accuracy and tracking have all improved which adds up to a much better customer experience. And how has the platform improved the way you manage deliveries? Now that we have a single, streamlined platform that gives us access to a wide range of carriers, we can easily allocate the most appropriate and cost-efficient delivery service for each order. It’s enabled us to save around 30% on shipping costs with
Why were you looking to change the way you currentlymanage your deliveries? We’re growing our product range and customer base throughout the UK and internationally at a rapid rate and as a result our logistics operation has become much more complex. For example some of our smaller items are best shipped on an international packet service, whereas larger items like three-seater sofas require a two-man delivery. Many of our European customers ask us to dropship directly to the consumer, but managing international and UK delivery across 12,000 Stock Keeping Units using a single carrier just wasn’t possible. Likewise, negotiating with different carriers for such a vast product range was far too complicated. Parcelhub offered the simple solution we were looking for – a single, dynamic platform that gives us access to a whole range of carriers and service options that suit our requirements. So what problems were you experiencing before you teamed up with Parcelhub? Processing orders was proving particularly time-consuming. We were printing labels in bulk before passing themon to the warehouse teamwhere they wouldmanually
8 Whistl Magazine • Autumn 2018
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Whistl Magazine • Autumn 2018
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