GFS launches ecommerce enterprise shipping system
UK parcel carrier management company GFS has launched a new software package that promises to help ecommerce merchants with the full process of converting sales into deliveries. Global Freight Solutions (GFS) launched the new system, called Enterprise Carrier Management, at today’s Ecommerce Expo in London.
The new software package brings together a suite of existing and new GFS tools to direct online sales to delivery, produce shipping labels, track and trace items, manage customer service and ensure accurate and on-time invoicing.
Stephen Ferguson, the GFS international sales director, said the system would run everything from the purchase to the delivery of an ecommerce product.
“This is not just a single product, it allows you to take control of the entire supply chain and achieve the best possible performance,” he said.
Along with the GFS Expert, GFS Selector and GFS Validator tools, which manage respectively online sales, multi-carrier despatch/labeling and accounting activities, the company has also launched a new customer service module, GFS Manager, which forms part of the Enterprise Carrier Management suite.
Simon Veale, the GFS director, explained to Post&Parcel today that the new customer management system would particularly help merchants to handle problem parcels, where deliveries do not end up in the right place.
“We have a traffic light system to identify parcels, and this allows us to flag up the ‘red’ and ‘amber’ shipments and immediately deal with them,” he explained.
“So if you have a parcel in Edinburgh instead of Exeter, you can be proactive in contacting the customer to report that this is probably not going to arrive that day. But a parcel that’s in Dunfermline instead of Edinburgh you could put a call in, and it will.”
Flexible
GFS said its new system aimed to make ecommerce delivery models as flexible as possible, to direct shipments to the best carrier for each individual business.
The new Enterprise Carrier Management system was launched just as preparations begin to ramp up for the festive peak season in the UK, with merchants concerned that some carriers are setting caps on how much they will deliver ahead of Christmas.
Ferguson today urged ecommerce merchants: “In terms of this business, it is fundamental: you need to have this on the radar. Having a Plan B and Plan C is definitely something you should be doing – if not, it’s going to be a very trying Christmas for you this year.”
West Sussex-based GFS claims more than 5m parcels are currently shipped using its software each year. The company’s platform supports most of the major UK and Irish parcel carriers, including City LInk, DPD, FedEx, Hermes, Nightline, Parcelforce, Royal Mail and UK Mail.
