Comet has awarded a major contract to Amtrak Express Parcels as part of moves to improve home delivery services. Amtrak is delivering Comet’s small electrical and electronic items, working alongside existing carrier Parcelforce and Comets’ own fleet, which handles larger goods.
The retailer makes 13 million sales a year and with home deliveries increasing – peak volumes reach 7,000 parcels a night. Comet selected Amtrak in order to add more flexibility and improve customer service, benefiting from the parcels company’s timed next-day deliveries and an extended day from later pull-out from despatch. Comet has seen a big increase is sales via the Internet and Amtrak will deliver many of the goods ordered via the retailer’s website.
Comet stocks much of the ‘one man’ delivery items like phones, PDAs and small vacuum cleaners at its Corby distribution centre. Evening collections are arranged by the nearby Amtrak office in Nottingham, with trunking direct to the Amtrak hub near Birmingham. Amtrak delivers next morning via its 100-strong depot network.
“Customer expectations on deliveries are higher than ever and with web orders in particular. Amtrak is a home delivery specialist and are well set up for a fast response service allowing us to get orders to the doorstep that much quicker. It is all part of a strategy to provide industry-leading customer service,” says Nick Cox, Comet’s home shopping fulfilment manager.
