With vehicles making hundreds of deliveries a week to customer homes across the country The Home Delivery Service saw an opportunity to enhance its well-respected last-mile delivery service with the introduction of forward-thinking technology. Having reviewed the software solutions the market had to offer only Podfather presented a clear and confident solution that would meet The Home Delivery Service’s needs. The system is now being rolled out and The Home Delivery Service team has already seen a 20% cut in customer service calls because of the customer ETA notification and on-the-day delivery tracking functionality that Podfather has brought to its delivery business.
The Home Delivery Service has built an unrivalled reputation for offering a premium trampoline and garden item delivery and installation service. With order volumes reaching an unprecedented high this summer The Home Delivery Service team knew it had to move away from paper-based processes of old and introduce technology to maintain customer service levels while rapidly growing its business.
“We reviewed the different software solutions that the market had to offer but Podfather was the only one that gave me the confidence that they’d deliver on their promises,” comments Jessica Young, Director at The Home Delivery Service. “Even at this initial rollout phase we’ve already seen the volume of customer calls drop by over 20% as a result of us sending customers accurate ETA information via text and email; ETAs that are generated and sent out by our Podfather system.”
Before the introduction of Podfather The Home Delivery Service planned and managed its transport operation manually. Now, with Podfather in place, The Home Delivery Service is planning last-mile delivery routes, collecting vehicle check information, tracking deliveries in real-time, issuing customer ETA notifications and collecting electronic proof of delivery confirmations using the Podfather cloud-based back office system and easy-to-use driver smartphone app. As a highly seasonal business with a huge spring/summer delivery peak, The Home Delivery Service is also benefiting from the ability to easily share the Podfather driver app with its network of sub-contractor drivers.
“All our drivers, both our own and all our subcontractors, use the Podfather app to gather customer delivery information which gives me full, real-time, visibility of exactly which products have been delivered to which customers,” adds Young. “Just being able to track where our vehicles are, and keep our customers informed is a great addition to our service offering and really helps to enhance our reputation as a premium last-mile delivery specialist.”
“Having a reliable last mile delivery service is integral to The Home Delivery Service business model and we are delighted to be able to provide them with a robust solution to tackle the issue of keeping customers updated and informed,” adds Colin McCreadie, Podfather’s Managing Director. “With highly seasonal goods such as we see here with trampolines and garden play items, the fact that Podfather can be used by a subcontracted driver makes it the obvious choice for operators faced with the challenge of managing an operation with such extreme seasonal delivery volume fluctuations.”
