Home Delivery Network (HDNL) plans to save £500,000 a year and reduce its van fleet on the back of a £1.2m IT investment that includes a text message delivery service.
Home Delivery Network (HDNL) plans to save £500,000 a year and reduce its van fleet on the back of a £1.2m IT investment that includes a text message delivery service.
The online shopping distributor has launched an SMS text message service enabling it to advise customers of delivery times. HDNL expects this to increase the amount of first – time deliveries and avoid drivers turning up to find no one is there to sign for a parcel.
On the delivery date, which a client can negotiate via text, the customer will receive a message giving them a three-hour slot for delivery.
HDNL IT director Chris Airey said: “We could save £500,000 a year by avoiding paying a driver twice for making repeat journeys. We can therefore lower the number of vans on the contracts.”
He adds that following a six-month trial, the group is rolling out a joint venture with PayPoint, where customers can collect or return products via local stores. “This will lower our B2C collections and add an edge to our offering,” he said.
HDNL revealed plans earlier in the year to axe nearly 700 jobs to cut costs.
Source: Road Transport
Tags: B to C (Home Delivery), Courier/Express/Parcels, Domestic, Europe, HDNL, UK
