Opening channels for E-COMMERCE

E
xel announced in April the launch of Exel Direct, its busi-ness-to-consumer fulfilment and home delivery service.
Exel Direct is intended to help retail-ers, e-tailers and manufacturers open up new distribution channels by providing the often-missing piece of the e-com-merce equation: timely and cost-efficient fulfilment and home delivery, says the company.
Although newly named, Exel Direct boasts 30 years and 50 million deliveries as the former Merchants Home Delivery Service, which began operating in North America in 1970 and has been part of the Exel family since 1984.
International research conducted by Exel revealed an acute and growing need amongst retailers, e-tailers and manufac-turers for order fulfilment and home delivery. A majority of survey respon-dents indicated they wanted to begin selling via the Internet and other chan-nels but lacked fulfilment and delivery expertise.
Exel Direct is Exel’s solution, says Bruce Edwards, Exel executive vice pres-ident. “Exel Direct combines Exel’s long-established home delivery skills with leading-edge supply chain expertise, enabling us to respond to our customers needs for e-commerce, technology and freight management solutions,” he says. “The first in a number of services Exel Direct will offer in the United States is the fulfilment and home delivery of items too large to be shipped through traditional carriers such as FedEx or UPS, such as furniture and appliances..
Exel Direct’s services include the installation, set-up and removal of old
merchandise. Exel Direct customers may delivery contracts. In the UK, Exel has
choose services on a dedicated or net-work basis, depending on volume, deliv-ery area, and other needs. On a network basis, Exel Direct provides fulfilment, home delivery and transportation man-agement services for several large nation-al retailers, e-tailers and manufacturers.
“We’re serving a market that a lot of other logistics companies just don’t have the established resources to serve right now,” explains Edwards. “We are helping our customers open up new distribution channels — such as Web, catalogue, and phone — by being a single source for get-ting their large-size and big-ticket prod-ucts to customers with the level of speed, care and convenience customers expect.
Launching initially in the US, Exel Direct will roll out in the UK and conti-nental Europe later this year, building on the operational experience of its home
been providing home delivery service for Argos, a leading British retailer, since Argos launched its home delivery service in 1990. The operation, which started with just six products, has expanded to more than 1,000 products with 23,000 deliveries a week in 1999.
“Strategic partnerships and alliances will allow us to offer even more value-added services to our customers, includ-ing e-commerce enablement and global distribution and connectivity,” says Edwards. “We are dedicated to providing ‘one-stop’ e-commerce and supply chain solutions to our national and interna-tional customers.”
Exel and the Ocean Group announced in February their intention to merge to create a world leader in global supply chain management. The combined group is called Exel plc.