Internet Retailing — Opportunities and Challenges for the UK’s Distribution Property Markets
Internet Retailing — Opportunities and Challenges for the UK’s Distribution Property Markets
Read MoreTag: Courier/Express/Parcels
NetDespatch makes express firms into e-traders
The British technology firm NetDespatch has announced Velocity eTrader, a new service for courier and distribution companies, based on its Velocity web shipping and tracking platform.
The new Velocity eTrader website will allow shippers to book any services online, without having an account, and pay for them by credit or debit card. After entering all details, customers receive a quote based on mileage or weight from the Velocity eTrader pricing engine. Online payment is made through PayPal.
To help run an eTrader business, there is also an administration area that provides reports of both successful and failed transactions. With the new website, the company aims at capturing new business from eBay traders, cottage industries and business start-ups.
“eTrader opens up important new business opportunities for our courier and distribution customers, as more and more goods are bought and sold online and the number of local Post Offices dwindles. With payment by credit card, a formal account does not need to be opened, helping to attract a broad range of new customers, some of whom will undoubtedly eventually open a credit account,” said Becky Clark, CEO of NetDespatch.
As part of the NetDespatch Velocity “on demand” applications platform, eTrader adds to the wide range of NetDespatch web services that courier and distribution companies can provide to their customers, depots and suppliers. These include intuitive web booking, systems integration, pre-labelling, address management, mileage and weight based pricing, manifests, event tracking, management reporting, POD management, mobile data and eCommerce solutions. The services are all provided in real-time and fully integrated with other systems such as sales order processing, warehouse management and e-shopping cards.
The main courier partners of NetDespatch are TNT, Amtrak, APC Overnight, Priority Express and Expressair International.
Read MoreNew Zealand exporters remain optimistic
New Zealand exporters remain confident about the strength of their overseas markets, according to a survey, with most unaffected by fallout from the global credit crunch.
A survey of 244 export businesses by DHL in May found that the fluctuating New Zealand dollar against the US dollar was a benefit, with over half of respondents to the bimonthly survey reporting cost savings.
Of the companies to make savings, about a quarter planned to use them to cover rising operating costs such as fuel.
The New Zealand dollar was volatile last month, after surprisingly poor retail and employment data cast further doubt about the strength of the economy and increased the expectations of interest rate cuts.
The kiwi ended May close to where it began, around US78c, but swung about US4c during the month.
Of companies surveyed who export to the US, 58 percent reported no impact to their current export orders, 22 percent experienced a fall and 5 percent had an increase.
Over the next six months, 77 percent of exporters anticipated no change or an increase in orders to the US.
“Given the impact the US sub-prime crisis has caused to markets worldwide and the New Zealand public’s concerns about potential local effects, it is positive that most exporters are reporting they are unaffected by the crisis and even optimistic about orders in the near future,” said DHL Express New Zealand General Manager Derek Anderson.
Eighty percent of exporters expected orders to markets other than the US to remain stable for the next six months.
Key New Zealand trading partners remained solid economically, with Australia and Asian economies growing strongly, and Europe and Japan showing surprising growth, said Jason Wong, Director of Economics and Strategy at First NZ Capital.
Read MoreDHL faces anti-trust probe as Ohio representatives question UPS deal
Representatives of the U.S. state of Ohio are pushing for the Federal Justice Ministry to launch an anti-trust probe into Deutsche Post World Net AG.’s plans to tie up its U.S. air express DHL operations with UPS, Die Welt reported.
The representatives are trying to prevent DHL from cutting up to 8,200 jobs in the course of entering into a ten-year co-operation with competitor UPS.
In March, Deutsche Post said its fourth-quarter profit slid by more than 60 percent after it wrote down the value of its DHL unit. DHL is slashing network capacity in the U.S. by 30 percent, which includes closing and consolidating sorting facilities and streamlining pickup and delivery routes.
A spokeswoman for Deutsche Post told Die Welt that the company does not expect U.S. authorities to object to its planned co-operation with UPS.
Read MoreDHL Express (USA) ceases @home service
DHL Express just confirmed with PARCEL that it will discontinue the DHL@home product effective September 1, 2008. The service tendered packages to the USPS for final delivery, reducing costs for the shipper.
According to DHL: “By doing so, DHL removes a product that brings with it significant operating costs and is not aligned with our core strengths nor with our more focused network. By eliminating the product from our network, we have the opportunity to further improve performance in our core domestic and international products and long-term financial performance of the US Express business.
“DHL is committed to serving our domestic customers with a network dedicated to continuous improvement in service reliability. We anticipate that discontinuing the @home service with its seasonal spikes of volume and operational complexity will further improve reliability throughout the year and enhance service levels particularly during peak season.”
DHL Express is directly notifying all @home customers of the change.
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