Things aren’t always as simple as they superficially appear to be – everyone knows this.
Take the weather as one example. Here in the UK, last month wasn’t much to write home about. Lower than average levels of sunshine and higher than average rainfall bring to mind the typical British summer. And yet Heathrow Airport experienced its hottest ever July day, with temperatures hitting a balmy 36.7C on 1 July, which corresponded with the highest ever temperatures (for any month) being recorded in other parts of the country.
Perhaps then it should come as no surprise that a relative new-comer, Doddle, has done something seemingly counter-intuitive to address the challenges of parcel collection and delivery in a busy urban environment.
While others are investing time, money and entrepreneurial vigour in developing new technologically-driven ways to crack the final mile, Doddle has gone out and bought a pair of trainers. Five pairs, in fact.
Can’t stand the thought of having to schlep down to the Post Office to return those shoes that you really shouldn’t have bought? Then you’re in luck. Because today (5 August) sees the launch of the Doddle Runner service in central London – a team of five people (soon to be 12) quite literally running around collecting and posting parcels.
If 2014 was the year we all got over-excited about drones, will 2015 be the year of the foot..? Don’t forget you heard it here first.
The final mile is never far from our thoughts in eDelivery, and this week we have a second piece from Natalie Berg of Planet Retail, who this time looks at the costs of home delivery. Are they reaching a tipping point where fixing the final mile will become a do-or-die issue?
But maybe it’s already too late. In a guest article from Dan Murphy of Kurt Salmon management consultants, we hear that as much as ecommerce sales have grown, the cost of fulfilment is outrunning them.
We also have an interview with the founder and CEO of Veeqo, the Swansea-based tech startup with an inventory management platform that is about to take on America.
Registration is still open for our first ever eDelivery Conference, which takes place on 13 October. Over the next few weeks we’ll be publishing a series of interviews with some of the excellent speakers we’ve got lined up.
If you haven’t yet subscribed to eDelivery why don’t you embrace change and go and do that right now? You’ll get our weekly newsletter summarising the main stories we’ve covered, and we’ll keep you informed of other big announcements, but we won’t spam you – that’s not how we stroll. You’ll find details on that here.
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