As the leading 2-person home delivery specialist in the UK, ArrowXL deliver 2 million customer orders every year, ArrowXL are committed to innovation and continuous improvement – they continue to invest in technology, new services and training. Adam Jones, Director of Sales at ArrowXL spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.
What are your best-known products/solutions/services? Which industry sectors are your customers in?
We are the leading two-person delivery specialist and we work in partnership with some really amazing retailers and e-tailers who tend to operate in the home and leisure sector. Most of our work is taking responsibility for delivering items that are too large, bulky or heavy for a single courier – like fridges, TVs and rigid furniture. Quite often these items need installing or assembling in people’s homes or gardens, so we do that too.
In fact, every month our delivery heroes successfully bring more than 15 tonnes of products to around 200,000 households across every part of the UK and Ireland. And because one size doesn’t always fit all – we also look after smaller items for customers too, providing a full range of warehousing, fulfilment and delivery services at sites across the country. This means that our customers can use us for just some or all of their requirements, scaling services up and down as they need to.
What are your most recent product etc innovations?
We are very proud of our innovative approach to new services and solutions. Our flagship Platinum service incorporates AskAxl, our highly-innovative, technology-enabled web app. It is a first within the ‘two-man delivery market’, providing visual tracking of the delivery vehicle and dynamically reducing the time window from two hours to just 30 minutes. It drives greater checkout conversions, an enhanced customer experience and repeat sales for retailers.
We regularly use a design thinking approach to help us understand issues, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and come up with new ideas and solutions. They enable us to address business critical processes through rapid prototyping and user testing.
What are the major trends and developments affecting your category and your customers, and how are you responding? The end customer is becoming increasingly demanding, especially when it comes to improved choice, convenience and communication – and we are always working hard to deliver an enhanced customer experience.
We are using technology like AskAxl to improve first-time delivery success. In addition, we recently became the first two-person home delivery service in the world to team up with PostTag, the destination data engine, to enhance delivery accuracy.
Can you tell us about any recent customer contracts and how you helped the customer meet their challenges?
Yes, of course. We recently gained a new client called DG International, who are one of the fastest growing companies within the logistics sector. They initially wanted to partner with us for home deliveries, but after seeing our high-spec warehouse facility in Wigan they quickly realised the benefits of using us for both warehousing and customer deliveries. As a result, they are now enjoying faster delivery times and a more professional approach when compared to their previous suppliers.
How does business in 2019 compare to previous years? What’s your strategy for succeeding in the current climate?
2019 has been very positive so far, and we have witnessed strong growth year-on-year. We are very excited for the grand re-opening of our hub in Worcester, which was tragically destroyed by a large fire in April 2017. The 258,000 square foot facility – which is 200m long, 100m wide and 50m tall – will be home to 250 members of the ArrowXL family, including 150 of our delivery heroes.
What’s the latest news from your company?
We have recently implemented the first phase of a £3 million digital transformation programme which will see our IT systems upgraded or replaced in a move designed to support growth and further improve the customer experience. This investment will help us to be easy to do business with and to continue to deliver unrivalled levels of service within our shared user two-person delivery network.
Are you investing in staff training and skills development?
We are absolutely committed to nurturing talent and creating a brilliant working environment for our teams. For instance, The ArrowXL Development Academy was opened at our headquarters in Wigan last year in order to centralise and standardise training across the company. As part of this innovation, we constructed a purpose-built apartment that allows our specialist delivery crews to train and hone their skills in a real-life environment. A few months later, the Academy received accreditation to deliver Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) modules in-house. To date, well over 1,400 training sessions have taken place on-site.
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