Run 4 It, Scotland’s largest chain of specialist running shops, is expanding its online businessthanks to UK-wide next day deliveries from APC Overnight.
Working with the local APC operator, APC Thistle Couriers, Run 4 It (www.run4it.com) now serves customers as far north as Orkney andthe Shetland Isles and as far south as Cornwall.
Hannah Glasscoe, Run 4 It website administrator, highlights the need for a supportive andreliable next day courier service for its expanding e-commerce business.
“We re-launched the Run 4 It website in November 2008 and the business is expanding rapidly.We now have over 11,000 regular online customers and we get more than 30,000 visits to the websiteeach month. The local APC Overnight depot – APC Thistle Couriers – in Aberdeen is helpful andprovides a flexible and rapid service. Indeed, a good courier is essential to running a successfulonline business,” she said.
“Run 4 It has a unique approach to customer service. The company was set up by runningenthusiasts. We stock all the top brands and importantly our staff are highly knowledgeable andexperienced. They receive ongoing training to ensure we provide the best possible service to ourcustomers. This reflects in the growth in the number of traditional retail outlets and ourincreasingly popular online shop.”
Run 4 It uses the innovative NetDespatch Velocity web-based booking, labelling and trackingsystem to streamline its online customer supply chain. With this, Run 4 It can quickly book parcelcollections, print all the labels and have parcels ready and waiting for APC Thistle Couriers. Thesystem also provides end-to-end parcel traceability and proof of delivery.
“NetDespatch is a convenient solution that helps with order fulfillment. It reducesadministration time, allowing us to turnaround online customer orders quickly. We simply book eachorder on to the system and it automatically prints the label with all the correct item and deliverydetails. We attach these to parcels and they are then ready for collection by courier. We caninterrogate the system at any time, giving us full traceability of each parcel as it makes its wayfrom Run 4 It head office through the APC Overnight network and finally to the customer,” Glasscoeconcluded.
