Axida ‘revolutionised’ home delivery for Shire Garden Buildings
Shire Garden Buildings has implemented the UK’s leading two-man home delivery software to keep pace with its growing order book.
Axida’s HDi software is taking care of the Shire’s delivery service from the point of order to fulfillment.
The family-owned business in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, has become synonymous with Britain’s garden culture. It is a top manufacturer and supplier of timber buildings and other outdoor structures to major retailers and leading garden centres.
Dee Shore, general manager at Shire, said: “Shire delivers directly to the end customer on behalf of the retailers and we had grown to a point where we needed a more sophisticated system in place. Axida’s HDi has revolutionised the delivery process for us, allowing us to keep track of orders, and become much more efficient and informed.
“As a result of implementing Axida’s HDi, we now have a delivery service to match the quality of our products.”
HDi allows businesses to dramatically improve customer service and their bottom line through increasing first time delivery success, maximising drops per vehicle, reducing time resolving problems and cutting the cost of customer contact.
Wayne Holgate (pictured), director at Axida, said: “Shire has taken advantage of our new cloud-based version of HDi which is ideal for mid-market retailers, delivery companies and manufacturers. The solution is ideally placed to assist the growing number of drop ship vendors supplying marketplace retailers.
“Shire operates its own fleet of vehicles and customer services centre, and HDi has enabled them to make the delivery process more reliable, efficient and cost-effective. It has greatly improved service levels to the end customer and is satisfying the retailers they supply, without requiring further resources and staff.
“We are very pleased to be working with Shire as the company is a great example of successful British manufacturing,” he added.
Shire is also utilising HDi’s self-service module, a new feature of the software that allows customers to take control of their deliveries via their smart phone, tablet or PC. The company has reported that 46% per cent of consumers are making use of the module, providing convenience to the customer whilst simultaneously reducing outbound contact costs.
Recent developments of HDi with major benefits for SMEs include secure, resilient hosting via Microsoft Azure, removing prohibitive cost barriers to entry and enabling a per-transaction pricing model. In addition, the modular nature of the software enables Axida to support businesses of varying sizes across sectors without infrastructure upheaval and extensive development.
Longstanding customers of HDi for two-man and other forms of delivery include Laura Ashley, IKEA, Wickes, and third party logistics companies CEVA Logistics (which provides delivery services for a range of customers including Tesco Direct, J Sainsbury, Multiyork and Silent Night) and Wincanton (which provides dedicated services to M&S).
