Online clothing brand Boden reckons it has saved hundreds of thousands of pounds after moving over to P2P Mailing three years ago.
P2P now handles more than two million packages a year for Boden – both domestic and international.
Chris Potter, head of operations development at Boden, says: “Our relationship with P2P is so valuable because they are a consultancy rather than a just a service provider.
“Their knowledge of the global postal market is second to none; they have a whole portfolio of different solutions at their fingertips and can tailor the service to suit our needs. And because the company is independent we know that the pros and cons of each service will be laid out objectively allowing us to make the right decisions for the business.”
Potter reckons that Boden gets a better deal because of P2P’s relationships within the global postal market.
“I believe that we’ve saved between £80,000 and £100,000 on the cost of shipping our domestic packages alone. In addition, in respect to the packages going to USA, we saved in excess of £200,000 simply on the costs of handling in the warehouse.”
This money has been saved by changes to operations management. P2P has minimised the number of separate collections by consolidating different markets and routes. This approach has reduced the amount of handling and sortation required in the Boden distribution facility.
Boden launched in the UK in 1991 and has steadily expanded so that it now delivers to 62 countries from the UK.
Since Boden started in 1991, almost every high street fashion retailer has joined the internet marketplace, vastly increasing competition.
“Everyone in e-commerce knows that as soon as your delivery system falls down, you will lose customers. There’s nothing customers hate more than parcels that turn up late or not at all. Having P2P as a partner gives us the reassurance that our goods will be delivered on time and customer satisfaction will be maintained.”
P2P currently distributes Boden packages under two kilos and there are currently discussions regarding P2P handling the delivery of larger packages and also Boden’s returns service.
“Our relationship with P2P has evolved over time and I am sure that it will continue to do so. For us the combination of the consultancy approach, resulting cost savings and reliability, is a winning one,” says Potter.
