French fine wine retailer Nicolas has chosen Norbert Dentressangle for its UK transport operations.
The wine company recently acquired and re-branded several Oddbins stores, and now has 80 UK stores.
It has decided to change its dedicated distribution operations to handle high-value wines via a shared-user network.
Operations director Benoit Thouvenin said: “We have based our reputation on catering for the higher end of the wine market, which makes our products very precious, and any accidents during transportation would prove quite costly for our business in a number of ways. Norbert Dentressangle has the specialist expertise and the infrastructure to provide a highly accurate and well planned distribution service to our retail outlets but also within a shared network.”
From the main Nicolas warehouse in Paris, the transport company collects over 3,000 pre-assembled store orders per year.
Orders are packed into roll cages for security and protection. Loads are delivered to its specialist services depot in Rochester where they are consolidated into full trailer deliveries.
The transport company delivers to Nicolas outlets using a two-person team to allow careful delivery of such costly loads.
Following delivery, the empty roll cages are collected, consolidated into full trailer loads at Rochester and transported back to Paris.
Orders are received electronically via Dentressangle’s Shipment Handling and Reporting Program system and sent directly to the specialist services team for processing. The wine experts also have online access to proof of delivery to track deliveries in real time.
