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Palletways to offer ETAs in Europe by end of year

[ March 31, 2017   //   ]

Palletways plans to start rolling out an estimated time of arrival (ETA) service across its European operations by the end of this year, UK managing director Dave Walmsley told FBJ. New techology now being tested in the UK, will give receivers two-hour windows of expected arrival times for their pallets and is due to go live in this country within the next few weeks, he said.

The new ETA system has been “built ready for Europe” and would be progressively rollwed out across the other countries that Palletways operates in he said, mostly likely starting with Italy and Spain.

By offering customers more precise estimates of when their goods will arrive, Palletways hopes to gain an advantage over its competitors in the fiercely competitive pallet delivery market. Customers will get an exmail or text message advising when pallets will arrive and the feature is expected to be particularly attractive to domestic receivers, who hitherto have had no choice but to wait at home all day until deliveries arrived. Similar systems are already in use in the express parcels industry.

Dave Walmsley said that the system was flexible and would allow customers to be notified if unexpected events or schedule slippage meant that ETAs could not be met.

He added: “”There are benefits for everyone at each step of the pallet delivery process. For our network members, the ETA system makes the process more efficient because customers no longer need to phone or email their depots with queries about delivery times and dates. For customers, the capability to track goods and notify their consumers about time slots and consignment contents significantly improves their customer service. For consumers, it brings certainty, helping them to plan their day around the time slots available and enjoy a more flexible service.

“We expect to be able to attract new members and customers to work with the Palletways network because of our ETA system.”

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