As ecommerce produces unprecedented volumes of packets and parcels across the globe, UK e-retailers are understandably conscious of the biggest spend in their burgeoning business-the distribution to customers.
Ecommerce has been driving growth of more than 14% over 2012 and 2013, according to statistics produced by international delivery services, and it's still growing.
The e-retail industry's association, IMRG, is forecasting a 17% market growth in the UK for 2014, with £107bn being spent online. Access to the retailers is becoming more sophisticated too, with 25-34 year olds expected to use their mobile phones to shop-15% more in 2014 than in 2013.
Abroad, courier services are reporting flourishing figures thanks to buying over the internet. The US postal service USPS predicts online consumers will increase their spending by 62% by 2016 and ecommerce retail sales in the US will grow by 41% to $370bn by 2017. And in the Far East, ecommerce was responsible for boosting Singapore's SingPost parcel volumes by as much as 13.7% in the first quarter of 2013.
So, with all this parcel post, what's the best way of reducing postage costs?
Easy. As your business grows and personally picking and packing your ecommerce goods becomes untenable, move the operation to a fulfilment house-one with access to postage as well. Then you can get on with running and developing your business, happy in the knowledge your orders are being processed and posted.
Asendia
Asendia UK operates a 63,000 sq ft ISO 9001-accredited fulfilment centre coping with over 30,000 orders a day at peak times, handling and despatching such items as beauty and health supplements, clothing, toys, dry foods, medical equipment, consumer electronics, books, CDs, DVDs, home ware and gardening products, gifts and seasonal goods, product samples and free literature (catalogues, brochures, leaflets, etc.), much of which is travelling abroad.
As Europe’s second largest direct mail operator, Asendia has a vision to become the world leader in B2C solutions for international parcel delivery, and for this reason we have a special focus on the ecommerce industry. Not only are we able to fulfil your ecommerce orders, but we employ a wide range of UK and international postal and courier services to deliver them.
Our range of postal services, as well as packet and parcel services, includes:
- Signed-for mail
- Trackable mail options
- Priority services
- Standard/economy options
- Courier services (24 and 48 hour)
Our mail order distribution prices are often what makes our overall mail order fulfilment solution the most cost effective. Asendia is a joint venture between La Poste and Swiss Post, the post offices of France and Switzerland respectively, both with a heritage stretching back centuries. This gives us privileged access into those countries, as well as to a vast network of distribution routes, which helps keep delivery costs down.
Samples of our cost savings that our order fulfilment services can offer include:
- A 2 day postal delivery service that can be up to 10% cheaper than Royal Mail’s 2nd Class Post!
- 2-3 day tracked parcel service from £2.77!
- International parcel services that can be 50% cheaper than Royal Mail!
Obviously, weight, size and the method of posting will determine how cheap or expensive your distribution costs will be, but Asendia generates discounts through the sheer volume of mail they handle-discounts which they pass on to their customers.
Add even more value to your parcel
A postal operator the size of Asendia, which has mailing houses in Bedford and Southampton and an air conveyance operation at Heathrow, in addition to the fulfilment centre, also in Bedford, can offer much more than just the picking, packing and posting.
Sending a parcel across the world presents an ideal opportunity to spread your word-by adding into the parcel any catalogues, newsletters or direct mail. Asendia has the facilities to produce high quality printed materials too.
And what about the-albeit unlikely-event your parcel doesn't arrive, or the customer doesn't like what turns up. Returns are something else Asendia is geared up to deal with, and a robust reporting system means you will get to hear about it and can avoid any mistakes in the future.
So what makes Asendia the ideal ecommerce fulfilment and direct mailing partner for you? All these services are available under one roof, so there are no extra costs or logistics for moving your goods from a fulfilment house to a mailing house, or delivery from printers etc. These value added services make us stand out from the postal crowd, because we think providing a complete end-to-end service is important for our customers.
Contact Asendia today to talk about your requirements with our experts and get a quote.
If you want more information see www.asendia.co.uk/en/services/order-fulfilment-centre/order-fulfilment-overview/ or call us on 01234 84 84 15.
