Coping with the “uglies” in the UK’s ecommerce shipping boom

Ecommerce market is booming in the UK – but consumer confidence is bringing more bigger and bulkier shipments that cause headaches for carriers during the peak, says Pinesoft MD Stephen Dakin. An apparent marked increase in the amount of time lost to Britain’s bosses by their employees surfing the net during October for e-commerce bargains is as sure a sign that Christmas is upon us as the tinsel and stuffed turkey of old.

The festive season means boom time for retailers, the kind of winter warmth needed to stave off the chill of recession.

Those involved in internet retail will, of course, be most optimistic of all if forecasts of a 15% rise in seasonal online takings are anywhere near accurate. All in all, Britons are expected to spend more than £57 billion online in a year by the time Big Ben rings out 2012.

Parcel carriers too will be eagerly awaiting the start of the annual peak period, although they could be forgiven a measure of reserve.

Last November and December saw roughly 4.5 million additional items making their way into the domestic delivery network every single day, the kind of volumes which ratchet up the pressure on every infrastructure.

“Uglies”

The literal comfort of shopping from our sofas has another impact too. Whereas once we might have been uneasy about purchasing small items such as CDs or books, now Britons are happy to buy bigger and bulkier articles for home delivery.

At a time when resources are stretched to their limits and there’s an emphasis on processing packages swiftly and without fuss, objects known as ‘uglies’ – those large, exceptional items which don’t sit easily on a conveyor belt – can prove something of a headache.

Even out of peak season, they are considered time-consuming and awkward to cost and ship, both for carriers and shippers. That sentiment is magnified when their numbers increase in peak season and capacity becomes constricted.

Carriers know that they need to ship such packages quickly not only to maintain service levels but because consumers are much more demanding than when they first realised they could shop online only a few years ago. Time is one commodity which retailers and the carriers that serve them do not have in abundance.

So, how to cope with the problem and keep delivery schedules on-track? Certainly, in the current economic climate, it’s not a matter of merely throwing cash at it. Increasing surcharges also carries risks with retailers and consumers seemingly resistant to the idea of giving up the free delivery to which they have become accustomed.

IQ and IT

There is some evidence this year that carriers are applying a mix of IQ and IT in order to process parcels quicker and smarter.

To consumers, despatching goods may not seem as whizzy as a website or as visible as a brightly-liveried delivery van but carriers and their clients now realise managing that part of the e-commerce equation will be critical to whether their Christmases are bumper or bare.

The industry and initiative which has gone into speeding up how ‘uglies’ are handled rather than hold-up respective systems will not, I believe, be wasted. We have seen a greater than expected degree of interest from domestic and foreign post and parcel operators in the PostID product which we launched this year.

Those firms say they have been won over by a system which can automatically weigh, measure, label, rate and despatch bigger, heavier objects four times faster and more accurately than the manual labour which many have relied on to date for exceptional items.

They have appreciated that the advantage is not just in moving items more quickly but the possible impact the set-up has for their income too. Some individuals within the parcel industry have conceded that the imperative on processing ‘uglies’ speedily in order to keep to service levels agreed with clients means they might have lost out on all the revenue which such items could generate. It is, in a sense, almost an ‘avoid congestion charge’.

Being able to move bulky items quickly and at the right price means protecting both income and reputation, something of appeal given both the consumer confidence in buying bigger items online and the current economic situation which confronts carriers as surely as every other industrial sector.

All that might be of no interest in British homes on December the 25th as families unpack their presents. Carriers, though, know that if they do not do the unglamorous work effectively they and their clients will be the focus for the sort of complaints which could harm future business.

After all, it’s unlikely that Santa and his elves have ever had to worry about revenue protection, claims handling or labour costs!

Dr Stephen Dakin is the managing director of London-based software development company Pinesoft.