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Furniture123
is one of the longest established, and one of the
biggest, online furniture retailers in the UK. The
management team is made up of people with extensive
experience of furniture manufacturing and retailing,
marketing, IT, finance and logistics. By combining
this experience the founding team realised the new
possibilities offered by the Internet in 1999 and
has developed and grown the company continuously
since then.
As part of their continuous improvement Furniture123 approached Avanti
Express to discuss if Avanti could
add anything to the Furniture123 service. Avanti is
by no means the biggest courier in the UK but
has really focused in the last two years on
deliveries of bulky items, such as furniture, to
residential addresses. This has meant
establishing a warehouse big enough to take
customers' stock and staff trained and motivated
to handle items carefully. Drivers are experts
in loading and securing items in the van and
making deliveries within 30 minute time slots.
Furniture123 has grown the
business based on high quality products at
attractive prices and good service. Being one of
the largest furniture retailers means having to
manage the supply chain from more than 100
suppliers into the warehouse and back out to
thousands of customers. Avanti are
now involved with a quarter of these suppliers
at all stages of the supply chain collecting
daily, weekly, fortnightly or an ad-hoc basis,
as required, receiving the stock into the
warehouse in Manchester and then consolidating
that stock into customer deliveries. Online
retailing is a very competitive business and one
in which consumers have a high expectation for
service. Furniture123 has
carefully selected partners in manufacturing and
the supply chain who will complement their
reputation.
Early each evening the Avanti team
plan routes around the UK to deliver orders and
collect from suppliers as far apart as Penzance
and Aberdeen. Once the warehouse team has the
following days picking list they pull together
each order and pack the vans and trucks
according to the route plan. Most drivers start
early as many of Furniture123's customers
prefer an early delivery to fit in with work
commitments and all customers like the half hour
advance phone call from the driver. By breakfast
time the logistics team are in touch with the
drivers to find out progress and ensure that
everything is gong to plan. If there is a
deviation from the plan the logistics team will
notify the relevant parties and quickly and
professionally make alternative arrangements. If
a supplier does not have goods ready for
collection, for example, Avanti will
arrange for collection on the reverse trip or
divert another driver who has spare capacity.
Unlike many delivery companies Avanti do
not have designated runs on particular days but
collect and deliver anywhere in the UK according
the needs of Furniture123's customers.
Avanti and Furniture123 have
established a bespoke set of documents to
communicate orders, status updates, delivery
details and invoicing that allows both sides of
the partnership to know what is going on with an
order at any point in time. The process starts
with detailed orders emailed to Avanti with
full details of products and delivery and ends
up with weekly detailed invoices allowing Furniture123 to
fully reconcile orders.
Avanti's mission is to serve Furniture123 and
provide support as the company continues to be a
leader in its marketplace.
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