Despite a turbulent 2022, online sales are growing at a steady rate, just over 25% in the latest figures published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
Whilst this growth is welcomed by both retailers and logistics providers, it is causing tremendous pressure on all phases of the delivery network – first, middle and last mile.
And in a market with lots of delivery companies, differentiation is key to success.
Relay Technologies is one such delivery business, which provides a unique delivery model for high growth retailers.
Launched in mid 2022, Relay is the brainchild of two of Stuart’s (a same-day, next-day last-mile B2B delivery platform which enables businesses to ship from store or a hub) leading lights, Nicole Mazza and Jonathan Jenssen.
And just like Stuart, Relay is aiming to disrupt the ecommerce delivery market by re-configuring the critical delivery infrastructure to address the growth of online retail in Europe.
“Relay focuses on e-commerce delivery networks to empower retailers to really accelerate the speed at which they sell online and we do that through delivery” explains Nicole, Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Relay.
Logistics planning for every stage of the journey
When Relay were evaluating logistics software to power their operation, Nicole recalls the choice eventually came down to two choices, Onfleet and Stream, after an exhaustive evaluation process.
“We felt that Onfleet was very on demand-centric in terms of fleet operations and the way that they would think about route planning for instance” said Nicole.
“Given the fact that Relay doesn’t just operate a final mile operation, collecting and delivering from a hyper local point – we thought we needed to look into a solution that would consider all our other touch points in the parcel journey, which are the first mile operation, middle mile operation and last mile operation.
We came across Stream and thought, okay, that will suit our needs”.
Integrations and rapidly developing sales strategy also a factor
With a clear ambition to disrupt the ecommerce delivery market, Relay felt that the ability to integrate with a retailer’s back office systems, such as warehouse management, inventory management, or accounting system, would be a key driver, not only in Relay’s sales growth but also in the choice of delivery software.
As it’s turned out, integrations are still vital to growth, but the original sales strategy has morphed. Nicole picks up the story:
“So back in the day we thought potentially if we did need to go and do an SME sales strategy.
The fact Stream had integrations with the likes of Mintsoft was very good for us and guided our purchase decision because we have that integration already up and running and that would be beneficial.”
“As it has turned out, we’ve moved more into the enterprise space, but integrations are still an important driver” commented Nicole.
Speed to market delivered
Exploring the decision to subscribe to Stream, Nicole explained that selecting an application ‘off the shelf’ provided the speed to market they wanted.
“Stream has helped us get up and running quickly. For us, speed to market was key and we thought that Stream represented the best opportunity for us to go live as quickly as possible. It would simply have taken us too long to build out all of these different capabilities ourselves from scratch. It was imperative for us to get a baseline going and Stream gave us the baseline to build on.
Disrupting the ecommerce delivery market
Relay’s operation clearly delivers for its customers. These are just two testimonials they’ve got on their website:
“By moving our volume to Relay we have been able to shorten delivery times to customers whilst saving money, which has led to an increase in sales and higher profits – we couldn’t be happier to recommend the Relay service.” – Founder & Director, Tu Pack
“Relay is a no-brainer for businesses looking to provide a superior online delivery experience for their customers. We, and our customers, have been absolutely delighted with their service.” – Founder & Director, Sirplus
What advice would Nicole give a business considering Stream?
“There’s a lot that Stream can play with in configuration that can adapt to certain business needs. I would use the example of ourselves. We have a very unique network design, but we were able to get something going even with our uniqueness and customisation requirement.
If you’re considering Stream, I’d say don’t shy away if you don’t see immediately that it plugs in, like for like with what your requirements are, as there is a huge amount of customisation that Stream is capable of doing”.
Transform your logistics operation
Book a demo with our team today so see exactly how Stream can transform your logistics operation to help you plan better routes and deliver a superior customer experience.