Two UK mail and parcel management firms have teamed up to offer a new tracking service forinternational e-commerce deliveries.
Parcel and carrier manager GFS has joined forces with mail solutions provider P2P Mailing tolaunch a new product called Trak Pak, which is targeted at low-value international B2C shipmentsand which they claim will cut the cost of meeting overseas consumer demand.
The new Trak Pak service will combine GFS’s IT-based expertise in parcels management,including tracking, with P2P’s international delivery services using selected local partners.
Until now, British e-tailers sending lower-value items to foreign customers have either hadto rely on international packet post with limited or no tracking, or premium express parcelservices which offer tracking but add significantly to delivery costs, GFS pointed out.
Neil Cotty, GFS’s Managing Director, said Trak Pak had the capability of increasing theappeal of cross-border commerce for consumers and the businesses with which they shopped withoutincreasing prices. Millions of less bulky or lower value items, including clothing, books and CDs,are sent each year as packets or small parcels.
“The growth of e-commerce has increased the choice of product available to consumers and thegeographical range of retailers from which they can buy. However, research has shown that they’reoften dissuaded from buying from overseas retailers by the cost of premium delivery options ortheir inability to track a purchase despatched via a more cost effective standard service.
“What Trak Pak represents is a combination of P2P’s expertise in providing international maildelivery solutions and GFS’s speciality in providing a multi-carrier management platform to delivera fully integrated and tracked service that provides an optimum balance between the best commercialrates, the best flexibility and the best possible quality of service for retailers and thecustomers they serve,” he explained.
P2P’s Managing Director, Paul Galpin, said that by working with carefully selected networkpartners, Trak Pak would be able to deliver packages weighing typically up to 5kgs throughoutEurope, North America, Australasia and the Far East in line with current priority mail schedulesand with the added benefit of track and trace.
“What we are able to offer is lower costs to the retailer and increased convenience andsecurity of delivery for consumers, something which is at the heart of what e-commerce is allabout. Together we will be able to inject items into domestic mail markets across the globe andtrack them in a way which no-one else is currently able to do,” he said.
P2P, one of the UK’s leading mailing and distribution solutions providers, works withsome of the world’s biggest mail operators and currently handles over 5 million packets and parcelsa year on behalf of leading e-commerce brands in fashion, apparel, leisure and consumerelectronics.
GFS already ships more than five million parcels a year on behalf of leading e-commercebrands and household names in financial services, leisure and engineering.
