Parcel delivery is a cutthroat business in the U.K., with margins of just pennies per parcel.
“If you can charge an extra penny for a little bit of enriched technology or an enriched customer journey, or if you can take a penny out, you can really turn the dial on your profit,” says Chris Ashworth, CIO of Hermes UK.
The bulk of Hermes’ business comes from delivery contracts with high street and online retailers — “80 percent of the top 100 retailers are with us,” says Ashworth — but it also has a network of over 4,500 parcel shops, from where smaller companies and individuals can send packages.