British technology firm NetDespatch, which specialises in web-based shipping solutions helpingretailers despatch parcels for orders placed online, is reporting a 50% increase in online traffic
compared with the same two weeks before Christmas last year.In the run up to Christmas, the company’s internet servers are being accessed up to 20 milliontimes an hour which indicates that people are spending less in the shops and more online, thecompany said.
NetDespatch estimates that around 50,000 retailers worldwide are now using its web technologyfor booking and tracking parcel deliveries through a wide range of postal and parcel carriers.Although NetDespatch also manages transactions from conventional catalogue sales and in-storeorders requiring delivery, many are orders picked up directly from website shopping carts.
NetDespatch makes sure that correctly addressed and routed labels are attached to parcels byproviding software tools that connect warehouse and sales order processing systems directly to theNetDespatch servers. The same data is then forwarded to the postal or parcel carrier in theirrequired format, ensuring that information such as the delivery address is entered just once anderrors checked to help ensure parcels arrive reliably on time.
Working together with carriers such as Yodel, UK Mail, Royal Mail and DHL Sameday in the UK,NetDespatch enables retailers and carriers to process much higher volumes of parcels at peak times,without increased operational costs.
In December 2011, the company has set a new record with 400 new businesses having signed up touse the service.
Evidence of the boom in online sales also comes from APC Overnight, where more than 100 depotsrely on customers booking parcel collections and deliveries online through NetDespatch. Thenext-day delivery provider recently reported that volumes are up by 10,000 parcels a night comparedwith last year. In the Christmas rush, it has sorted over 100,000 parcels a night at its WestMidlands hub.
Collect+, the UK’s innovative parcel delivery and returns service, gave NetDespatch anotherboost. Collect+ offers its service that allows parcels to be simply returned through 4500participating convenience stores nationwide to over 100 retailers, including ASOS, JD Sports, AsdaDirect, Argos as well as eBay. The innovative delivery and returns service has doubled its parcelvolumes in the last 12 months and is now handling over four million parcels a year.
