NetDespatch streamlines The Cheese Society's order fulfilment
2nd July 2010

Intelligent web technology from NetDespatch is cutting order fulfilment time for The Cheese Society. The Lincoln-based online retailer has recently relaunched its website to include a fully integrated automatic parcel shipping, label printing and tracking system. With the new system, the company can process orders ready for despatch to customers in a fraction of the time it took using its old manual methods.

“The NetDespatch solution has freed up our time to focus on customer service. It is easy to use and allows us to book collections and automatically print the labels at point of despatch with any personal messages and special delivery instructions. All the information is held centrally and there is no need to duplicate any of it. It is a logical and user-friendly solution that makes doing business online easy,” says Kate O’Meara, The Cheese Society’s Director.

The company sells cheese selections online to the general public, with up to 1000 orders each month sent to customers nationwide. The NetDespatch software not only streamlines administration it also enhances customer service by sending automatic email alerts to customers informing them that their orders have been sent. It also allows the customer to track their consignments online themselves, which means fewer telephone calls to The Cheese Society to chase parcels. It also provides full proof of delivery.

The Cheese Society’s own IT services consultant could integrate the company’s online store through a web services interface with the NetDespatch platform in just a few hours, with a little help from the NetDespatch support team.

“It was important for us to have the NetDespatch software working from the time we relaunched the site. Because it is a web-based system, this went smoothly and we were ready for action from day one. I’d recommend the system to any online business that wants to streamline how it handles its order fulfilment and gain more time to focus on their business and customer service,” says Kate O’Meara.

The company works closely with its local APC Overnight depot – APC Lincolnshire County Couriers – to gain the advantage of next day delivery to any UK address.

“APC Overnight provides good service. Because independent couriers that place high value on customer service run the network, we can rely on it to deliver on time, every time. Even during the heavy snows of last winter, our parcels got through to customers. One customer even reported that the driver walked through deep snow across two fields at 7 pm to deliver a parcel,” says Kate O’Meara.