Technical Innovation for Parcel Suppliers...

In the form of Split Dispatch, Supplier Tracking and Warranty Returns!

Before Parcel Holders launched its sister outfit Parcel Suppliers back in November 2015, Westomatic had told them that for their customers, they wanted to take PH’s PickUp DropOff service a stage further - by taking their customer service to the next level. Parcel Suppliers is a supplier portal to the Parcel Holders service which provides complete supply chain transparency, so ideal for Westomatic’s needs.

‘But Andrea Goswell, Westomatic’s Commercial Director had a far more ambitious goal in mind,” says Ed Fraser (MD Parcel Holders), ‘as part of Westomatic’s commitment to exceptional customer service she told us that in return for joining the service, we had to make it as easy as possible for Operators to return warranty parts to them. Under Andrea’s guidance and with a little help from Steve Cunliffe from Uvenco, we put our heads together and developed a solution that we knew would work for all involved.’

So what is this service? It’s a straightforward warranty returns service and Parcel Holders made it exclusively available to Westomatic’s customers for the first 12 months. Agreeing to an exclusivity deal didn’t seem a big decision at the time for Parcel Holders, however we soon saw other manufacturers starting to insist that, they too, should be able to offer the same level of service innovation to their customers. Plus, operators would want to see the solution become an industry standard… But it’s all good - as Ed puts it: ‘Westomatic’s customer service innovation that initially landed me in hot water with others has ultimately changed the expectations throughout the vending sector.’

And now? Warranty returns has been taken on and implemented by Coffetek and is now open to all other suppliers. Not forgetting Parcel Holders clients: LTT, Broderick’s and Connect Vending who are also embracing the scheme.

For Parcel Holders, simple innovation for customers to serve their own customers has been key; 2016 was all about integration and simplifying processes for vending clients. Their work with Vendman meant that mutual clients could access the service from within the Vendman console. But throughout 2017, they have once again been focused on enhancing integration with suppliers.

As Ed says: ‘We always wanted to ensure that our Parcel Holders customers could work with new suppliers whether just using them on a one-off basis or working with the “Parcel Suppliers console” and having complete supply chain transparency from warehouse to PickUp DropOff point…Our current Supplier Tracking upgrade addresses that. It ensures that Parcel Holders customers are always able to know which supplier their consignment came from - it’s all about tracking what’s gone from where to whom. It’s coming v soon… watch this (web)space!”

And then there’s the Parcel Holders new Split Dispatch upgrade; On the Parcel Suppliers console, it will ensure that whether the manufacturer sends out an order in one shipment or a hundred shipments, each will be uniquely tracked to our PickUp/DropOff points. It’s great for back orders.

Again though, like the system development work with Westomatic, nothing is ever a solo effort, and Parcel Holders would like to thank Coffetek, Crane and N&W for their input in developing the new Split Dispatch feature.

Got any questions for Parcel Holders / Parcel Suppliers about their tech innovations? Get in touch at www.parcelholders.co.uk.