We were contacted by a major high street retailer in early 2019 who was struggling to get stock to certain key stores before they opened each morning. The bulk of their distribution is handled by an overnight carrier who is good at delivering on a ‘next day, pre-close of business’ basis but struggles to hit specific delivery times. The stores in question were flagship shops in central London and were typically subject to parking restrictions and/or had loading facilities that were not designed for receiving large volumes of palletised stock. In many cases deliveries had to be made to kerbside.
Working closely with our client we devised a logistics plan that enabled us to hit delivery time and stock volume targets within budget constraints. Our ULEZ-compliant 18 tonne trucks are loaded through the evening at our client’s Regional Distribution Centre (RDC) in the Midlands until our drivers arrive in the early hours to take them into London. Goods for return and empty totes are loaded back onto the trucks for return to the RDC later in the day. The store managers are delighted with the service because they can process the incoming stock and get it on display before the stores open, allowing staff to concentrate on serving customers. It also allows clients to order items and be able to collect them from store the following morning.
Having proved reliable distribution partners and gained the confidence of our client, we were asked to help with their extremely busy peak sales period over November and December. We supplied 11 extra vehicles each day (a mix of extra-long wheelbase vans, 7.5 tonne and 18 tonne trucks) to cover deliveries of books and other products to shops throughout the UK. This is a vital trading period for any high street retailer so it was crucial that we were able to provide a consistent and reliable service. The project went extremely well. The few issues that occurred were dealt with swiftly and effectively to minimise any impact on the stores concerned. With a project of this scale, and subject to such strict time constraints, there were inevitably a few instances of vehicle delays and late arrivals, but our 24 hour operations team were able to keep our client informed at all times. Good communication is central to what we do. Our client’s Logistics Manager commented:
“Our company embarked on using same day courier solutions back in 2016, via the use of local couriers. Although the services we had for those first few years got us through, we felt the service could have been better and tailored for our needs.
In early 2019 we reached out to Ace Sameday Couriers to look at providing such a service for us and from the start they have provided us with that customer focused service we were craving. The attention to detail of our needs and delivery requirements, has ensured the smoothest year for this type of service since it was introduced. The team at Ace have always been on hand to remedy any issues that were thrown at us and provide solutions to areas we may not have even considered”.