October 29, 2023 • 19 mins
Tim Wheeler, the UK Sales Director for Strongpoint returns. We delve into the intricate world of retail's last mile and its environmental implications. Discussing the labour-intensive nature of this process. Our journey takes us across the UK's home delivery landscape and on to the Nordic region's popular locker-based delivery system. Locker collection, is it the next big thing or a challenge that retailers are yet to master? Tim debunks the assumption that consumers prefer home delivery, putting forth compelling arguments that are sure to get you thinking.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Productivity Podcast.
This is the second in our miniseries with our friends at
Strongpoint and delighted thatTim Wheeler is back to join us.
Hi Tim, hi Simon, nice to talkto you again, and you and you.
So we kind of talked aroundeFulfillman Automation, dealt a
bit deep into grocery, talkedabout all sorts of AMRs if I
(00:24):
remember the terminology andhumanoids.
Today we're going to have a bitof chat and get a bit deeper
into the last mile, because Ithink there's lots of talk,
isn't there in this area ofretail and distribution around
how labour intensive it is.
There's always an environmentalangle rightly so on everything
that happens as well.
(00:45):
So for those that maybe aren'tsure what the last mile means,
do you want to give us asynopsis or Tim's view of the
world?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, it can do, and I think it's fairly simple.
When a person makes an onlineorder, the product has to get to
them, and it can get to them ina couple of different ways.
It can be delivered to theirdoorstep in their home or they
can go somewhere to pick it up.
That's the last mile.
Why is it the last mile?
(01:16):
Well, fulfillment in eCommerceusually finishes at a storefront
.
If you've done picking in store, it can finish at the front of
a warehouse.
If you do your eCommercefulfillment in a warehouse, it
can be either.
Or if you have a fulfillmentnetwork, but somehow that order
has to get to where the customeris expecting to pick it up.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So if we're not walking in, as in going for a
browse and paying through thetill and walking out with it,
it's when we've pre-purchased,somebody's picked it, got it and
then it has to get to us viaDHL, whatever it might be at
this moment in time.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Correct and I think for the UK in particular, that's
a pretty good synopsis, becausethe UK is very much a home
delivery market and when peoplethink of the last mile in the UK
, home delivery is where theirmind will go.
But actually, if you look atother markets around the world,
and particularly the home marketof strong point our head
(02:16):
offices in the Nordic region ifyou look at the last mile in the
Nordic region as an example,instead of being highly
dominated by home delivery, it'sactually got a very substantial
locker based market, and whatthat means is, instead of the
product being delivered to eachand every person's home, the
(02:38):
products are delivered tocentral points within the
fulfillment network lockerslockers that are able to keep
the product at the righttemperature, obviously, the
right safety, and that theconsumer can come and pick up
their order from their preferredpoint when they want.
And now, obviously, as well ashome delivery as well as locker
(03:01):
pickup, there's the traditionalclicking collect.
I buy something online and I goto the store itself in order to
pick it up and I think clickingcollect always exists.
It has positives for companiesand has negatives for companies,
but that last mile is going tobe a combination of store pickup
, home delivery and increasinglythis sort of intermediate
(03:25):
locker pickup option, and that'salmost the let's meet you
halfway kind of option.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
See, I like that and I suppose on the clicking
collect front we do lots ofmeasurement on clicking collect
for organizations.
It's a real challenge for thembecause the times are really
varied and it's inevitably afrustration for a customer if
you've got to wait whilesomebody goes and finds a parcel
or doesn't find a parcel.
Inevitably, and in someoccasions, that stores just
(03:53):
weren't laid out for the volumeand breadth of product that
they're now servicing.
Right, and I think any retailersupermarket hasn't got and
probably wouldn't want to haveto refit every store to carve
off that space that's now needed.
So it it, as you say, is anecessity and will always be
(04:14):
there.
But if you think of DIY stores,for example, they sell anything
from Tinder paint, screws andnails to whole bathroom suites,
sheds, so that slabs.
That breadth is huge.
So I think that's interestingLockers I've seen lots and lots
in the UK spring or pat servicestations, petrol stations,
(04:35):
supermarkets, but more the otherway of I'll go and drop my
return off there or my eBayparcel, rather than me going to
the locker to collect myshopping, to collect my whatever
it might be.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
You're right, it's a lot less prevalent here in the
UK than other countries and it'salways, in a way, it's confused
me because when you hearretailers in the Nordic region,
for example, talk about theirlocker channel, they are
absolutely glowing about thischannel and you think it barely
(05:13):
exists in the UK as an outwardchannel.
I mean, you know, you see theodd Amazon lock around the place
, for sure, but you don't.
People don't pick up theirgroceries at lockers.
So much in the UK.
And it doesn't make sense whenyou think about it, because the
retailers in the Nordic regionthey say the things that
everyone knows, which is thatlockers save an enormous amount
(05:39):
of cost in the home deliveryaspect.
So, instead of a retailerdelivering to you know every
single household that's orderinga product, they're delivering
only to certain chosen bulk pickup points.
So there's a huge saving in thevan fleet that you're using, in
(05:59):
the labor that you're using todrive to people's homes.
That's the part that everyoneknows.
Everyone knows that there arehuge cost savings if you can do
something about home delivery.
The piece that I think noteveryone knows and understands
unless you talk to one of theseNordic retailers, is that
(06:21):
there's a significant portion ofthe online customer base that
prefers that.
There's a presumption, I think,in the UK market that the
consumer wants home delivery.
It's the most convenient thingfor the consumer and I'm now
convinced that that's actually awrong assumption.
And what the Nordic retailerswill say is that some people
(06:42):
will prefer, you know, give mean hour window and I'll hang
around the house and the vanwill come, hopefully, in that
hour window.
You know, maybe a bit eitherside and I don't mind, but
there's a significant number ofcustomers you say I don't want
to have to sit in my houselistening for the doorbell for
(07:03):
even a one hour time slot.
I want to get my productexactly when I want to get my
product.
And actually I'm a part of thismarket because when I, you know
, buy, you know, a book orsomething from Amazon, let's say
, I choose the locker option.
And why do I do that?
Because I control exactly whenI go and pick it up.
(07:25):
I'll do it while I'm puttingpetrol in my car, so you know
it's not an extra trip.
So it saves the consumer timeand money that otherwise would
be spent waiting.
You know, waiting for thedoorbell to ring inconveniently,
or travelling somewhere for aspecial trip and I think this is
the big news to the UK marketand I really think the UK market
(07:48):
is ripe to change, to reallyadd this locker channel in the
coming two, three years.
I think it's going to be a hugeexplosion because when the
realisation comes that some oftheir consumer base not all, I'm
absolutely not claiming thatall will, but a significant
(08:09):
number of people currentlyordering and getting delivered
to their home will actually behappier to go to a locker pickup
point, I think that's going tobe one of those huge UK light
bulb markets and the UK retailmarket will really change
because the carrot the carrot ofcost of doing home delivery is
(08:30):
so big, it's such a huge costthat when people realise that
you can actually realise thosehuge cost benefits and your
customers will be happier, it'sthe ultimate win-win.
And I haven't even begun tomention the environmental
benefits.
I mean fleets of trucks andlorries and delivery vans
(08:54):
driving around from house tohouse to house to house.
The cost of that's huge but thecarbon footprint is huge, the
fuel spent on that is huge andif you can eliminate even a
portion of that whilst making aportion of your customers
happier, then I think retailersare really, really going to go
(09:15):
crazy for this solution and Ithink it's going to be huge.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Well, everyone's struggling and backtracking
slightly on their 2020, 2030 netzero challenges, aren't they
including kind of the governmentand alike?
So there's a huge cost.
I suppose my working assumptionwould have been that the
organisations would just startto put the cost up of last mile
and almost price.
Unfortunately, people out ofthe market has it got more
(09:40):
expensive.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, it's one of these things where the carrot
and stick debate is always there, and if you have to provide a
stick to encourage a certainbehaviour, then maybe you have
to If you can do it with thecarrot and the carrot is
convenience, so if you can saythere's a more convenient way
for you, the customer, you knowwhen you're on your school run,
(10:05):
drop in at the locker on the way, pick up the kids, go home.
You have total control overwhen you pick up your online
order.
As I say, it's not adding atrip, it's not adding any cost.
So you get convenience and youknow the flexibility to do
things when you want, at thesame time as being beneficial
(10:26):
for the environment, becauseit's really hard to stress.
You mentioned the net zero goalsand the Environmental aims that
companies have.
I think this is also a hugeopportunity for them, because
most companies are thinking Well, if I convert my fleet to
electric vehicles, I'll makesome big inroads on the
(10:47):
environmental front, and they'reright, certainly, but it's not
solving all of the problem.
So I read somewhere that thecarbon footprint of an electric
vehicle is around about a thirdof what a petrol or diesel
vehicle will be.
So it's not zero because it'selectric.
It certainly helps to solve theproblem, but it doesn't remove
(11:09):
the problem.
Removing the special trip tothat house to deliver those
groceries, that takes away 100%of the carbon footprint.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, I think there's still yeah, there's still that
debate isn't there as well, ofthe end to end production of an
electric car.
Is it as environmentallyfriendly as being suggested with
the creation of the battery?
There's still a massive onknown in the disposal of the
battery.
So so, yeah, you're right, wehave people have to be careful
on just switching to electricflea.
Is is the panacea and clearlythat's a significant cost as
(11:42):
well.
Yeah, so I suppose I'verationalized it in my mind as
you've been speaking is ondemand.
So if I want to watch a film Athome, I can put Netflix on and
I can watch it.
When I want to watch it, I canpause it.
I can watch over three nights.
One night I can rewatch it.
Really, what, what we're almostgetting to here is and let's use
(12:03):
grocery is the example shoppingon demand.
So as a retailer, I know that inbetween X windows you're gonna
collect it, which I think isreally, really helpful for a
retailer, because back toprobably our old world's Tim, if
you've got known demand, that'splanable.
That's far easier to staffResource and carry out the
(12:23):
activity at given times thanUnknown demand which is me
walking in, if I feel like itthis afternoon, if I feel like
it tomorrow, to browse the shop.
So I think there's a wholebunch of, you know,
environmental stuff on demand,you know, in my time windows at
my preference.
But also Clearly there's a costbenefit at the retail side.
(12:45):
But also from a planning ofworkload point of view it should
become far more known.
So fit or fix this probably theword far more known rather than
variable and variable is is thebit which absolutely screws all
your schedules, because do youknow, if a coach load of people
are going to turn up and bysandwich it's going to throw it
(13:06):
down, no one's going to come inright.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Right and and you're right that there's there's
knowing the demand, there's alsoinfluencing the demand, so you,
you may be able to giveincentives towards, you know,
certain time slots, certaingeographical locations, so it's
an interactive thing.
You can, you can also influencethe demand, but certainly
(13:29):
knowing what it can be.
But I, but I think I think justhaving multiple channels
Available to customers Is goingto be the most important thing
because the the cost-savingelements there.
They're really exciting andthey're particularly if you can
get Home delivery moving toother channels.
The cost savings are absolutelyhuge.
(13:51):
But I think the the customerfocused positives Are even more
exciting in a way.
So if you can say to yourcustomer base, instead of two
options you know home deliveryand there'll be options within
that you know fast delivery,slower delivery, you know choose
your urgency type stuff options, for sure, but but broadly
(14:13):
speaking, that's home deliveryor Click and collect.
You know you come, come to usand and pick up your stuff.
As well as that, there areother channels available for
your convenience and, like I say, some portion of the market is
going to going to really likethis and it's not necessarily
just lockers.
I think they're a reallyimportant addition that will
(14:34):
come in the UK.
But in some market marketsthere are things like
drive-through collection pointswhere you know you go into a
Space and a system will readyour license plate and know that
you've just arrived.
And so by the time you get tothe Pickup point, your orders,
they're waiting for you.
Throw it straight into the bootOff, you go.
You know that's a channelthat's barely Existing in the UK
(14:58):
.
Maybe that's something that'sinteresting.
There are also things liketemporary Channels.
I find this Really interesting.
Yeah, the locker example that Igave the, the sort of mass
collection point.
Historically that's been afixed thing.
You know we put a bank of youknow red lockers somewhere in a
car park and everyone knows it'sthere and that's where it is
(15:20):
and that's where it stays.
But actually strong point hasMobile lockers as well, where
you might think there's afestival coming up.
You know why don't we Put atemporary Collection point at a
comedy festival for a couple ofweeks?
You know people are there,people are going to want product
.
Why not make it convenient?
(15:41):
Why not make it a good brandingexercise?
You know, let's show theattendees to some event that
there's a channel here where youcan really conveniently Get the
products that you need.
So you know mobile lockers,temporarily, it could be with
with sporting events.
It could be again in theNordics.
One thing's quite commonThere'll be a Scheme season.
(16:03):
Let's say so.
Let's have the collectionpoints In the places where
everyone goes for their skiingtrips, and then when it's the
summer and those places are notfrequented, no need for it to be
there.
So you can have temporarychannels for different reasons.
And I think this yeah,ultimately these options are
addressing cost and theenvironmental issues that tend
(16:25):
to go along with cost as well,but they're also giving positive
new options for customers tomake customers happy and
ultimately be more loyal to yourbrand and probably even buy
more frequently or by largerwhen they do buy.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
There must be opportunities as well in places
like inner city hotels, whereyou've got food being delivered
that could be stored in thereand you almost become endless in
terms of the things that youcan think.
You know ordering parts orsomething.
A car dealership if you werejust picking up bits, you know
Halfords, probably a greatexample where I just want a bulb
(17:02):
from a car and there becomesendless when you start to put
your mind to it.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
It really does.
And you know, in that examplethe Halfords example you know,
maybe I was busy all day doingwork or something and by the
time I'd like to pick it up, thestores closed.
You know what a pity.
Well, if it's a locker, youpunch in your code, you pick up
the product, you know you're notencumbered by sort of
operational matters like when'sthe store open.
(17:29):
So there are many, many reasonswhy this channel, in particular
the locker channel, is somethingthat delivers both convenience
and cost reductions.
And, as I say, when I look atthe UK retail fulfillment market
, I think the locker channel isthe thing that really is going
(17:51):
to transform this market in thenext few years.
And it's not.
This isn't a you know.
Theoretically, I think thiscould be a big thing because
there's a you know such a strongcost saving case.
It's not theoretical at all.
You can point to markets thathave done this right, where it's
a very significant part oftheir online structure and where
(18:15):
the business case and thepositive customer feelings
towards it are very well knownand very well documented.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Brilliant.
So on the last episode wetalked around kind of the
automation piece, amrs.
Some of the humanoids hitclearly with this one.
We've talked about last mileand lockers.
If people want to find out more, tim, take you up on some of
those kind of other countriesare doing this.
Teach me, show me where's thebest place for them to get in
touch.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
I can be emailed at timwheeler, at strongpointcom.
You can probably find me onLinkedIn although there's
probably many Tim Wheeler's, butTim Wheeler, strongpoint,
linkedin's a good place to goand, of course, the Strongpoint
website.
Ultimately, you'll get to me aswell.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Brilliant.
So we'll link your name on theshow notes to your LinkedIn
profile so we don't find adifferent Tim Wheeler, because
that'll be awkward for him, I'msure and we'll also put a link
to the websites so people canclick straight through to reach
out if they've got any morequestions.
Great stuff.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Thanks, simon.
Thanks for having me againBrilliant Now.
Always a pleasure to catch up,Tim.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Look after yourself and we'll speak to you.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Thanks, mate, bye-bye .
Welcome to the Productivity Podcast.
This is the second in our miniseries with our friends at
Strongpoint and delighted thatTim Wheeler is back to join us.
Hi Tim, hi Simon, nice to talkto you again, and you and you.
So we kind of talked aroundeFulfillman Automation, dealt a
bit deep into grocery, talkedabout all sorts of AMRs if I
(00:24):
remember the terminology andhumanoids.
Today we're going to have a bitof chat and get a bit deeper
into the last mile, because Ithink there's lots of talk,
isn't there in this area ofretail and distribution around
how labour intensive it is.
There's always an environmentalangle rightly so on everything
that happens as well.
(00:45):
So for those that maybe aren'tsure what the last mile means,
do you want to give us asynopsis or Tim's view of the
world?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, it can do, and I think it's fairly simple.
When a person makes an onlineorder, the product has to get to
them, and it can get to them ina couple of different ways.
It can be delivered to theirdoorstep in their home or they
can go somewhere to pick it up.
That's the last mile.
Why is it the last mile?
(01:16):
Well, fulfillment in eCommerceusually finishes at a storefront
.
If you've done picking in store, it can finish at the front of
a warehouse.
If you do your eCommercefulfillment in a warehouse, it
can be either.
Or if you have a fulfillmentnetwork, but somehow that order
has to get to where the customeris expecting to pick it up.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So if we're not walking in, as in going for a
browse and paying through thetill and walking out with it,
it's when we've pre-purchased,somebody's picked it, got it and
then it has to get to us viaDHL, whatever it might be at
this moment in time.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Correct and I think for the UK in particular, that's
a pretty good synopsis, becausethe UK is very much a home
delivery market and when peoplethink of the last mile in the UK
, home delivery is where theirmind will go.
But actually, if you look atother markets around the world,
and particularly the home marketof strong point our head
(02:16):
offices in the Nordic region ifyou look at the last mile in the
Nordic region as an example,instead of being highly
dominated by home delivery, it'sactually got a very substantial
locker based market, and whatthat means is, instead of the
product being delivered to eachand every person's home, the
(02:38):
products are delivered tocentral points within the
fulfillment network lockerslockers that are able to keep
the product at the righttemperature, obviously, the
right safety, and that theconsumer can come and pick up
their order from their preferredpoint when they want.
And now, obviously, as well ashome delivery as well as locker
(03:01):
pickup, there's the traditionalclicking collect.
I buy something online and I goto the store itself in order to
pick it up and I think clickingcollect always exists.
It has positives for companiesand has negatives for companies,
but that last mile is going tobe a combination of store pickup
, home delivery and increasinglythis sort of intermediate
(03:25):
locker pickup option, and that'salmost the let's meet you
halfway kind of option.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
See, I like that and I suppose on the clicking
collect front we do lots ofmeasurement on clicking collect
for organizations.
It's a real challenge for thembecause the times are really
varied and it's inevitably afrustration for a customer if
you've got to wait whilesomebody goes and finds a parcel
or doesn't find a parcel.
Inevitably, and in someoccasions, that stores just
(03:53):
weren't laid out for the volumeand breadth of product that
they're now servicing.
Right, and I think any retailersupermarket hasn't got and
probably wouldn't want to haveto refit every store to carve
off that space that's now needed.
So it it, as you say, is anecessity and will always be
(04:14):
there.
But if you think of DIY stores,for example, they sell anything
from Tinder paint, screws andnails to whole bathroom suites,
sheds, so that slabs.
That breadth is huge.
So I think that's interestingLockers I've seen lots and lots
in the UK spring or pat servicestations, petrol stations,
(04:35):
supermarkets, but more the otherway of I'll go and drop my
return off there or my eBayparcel, rather than me going to
the locker to collect myshopping, to collect my whatever
it might be.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
You're right, it's a lot less prevalent here in the
UK than other countries and it'salways, in a way, it's confused
me because when you hearretailers in the Nordic region,
for example, talk about theirlocker channel, they are
absolutely glowing about thischannel and you think it barely
(05:13):
exists in the UK as an outwardchannel.
I mean, you know, you see theodd Amazon lock around the place
, for sure, but you don't.
People don't pick up theirgroceries at lockers.
So much in the UK.
And it doesn't make sense whenyou think about it, because the
retailers in the Nordic regionthey say the things that
everyone knows, which is thatlockers save an enormous amount
(05:39):
of cost in the home deliveryaspect.
So, instead of a retailerdelivering to you know every
single household that's orderinga product, they're delivering
only to certain chosen bulk pickup points.
So there's a huge saving in thevan fleet that you're using, in
(05:59):
the labor that you're using todrive to people's homes.
That's the part that everyoneknows.
Everyone knows that there arehuge cost savings if you can do
something about home delivery.
The piece that I think noteveryone knows and understands
unless you talk to one of theseNordic retailers, is that
(06:21):
there's a significant portion ofthe online customer base that
prefers that.
There's a presumption, I think,in the UK market that the
consumer wants home delivery.
It's the most convenient thingfor the consumer and I'm now
convinced that that's actually awrong assumption.
And what the Nordic retailerswill say is that some people
(06:42):
will prefer, you know, give mean hour window and I'll hang
around the house and the vanwill come, hopefully, in that
hour window.
You know, maybe a bit eitherside and I don't mind, but
there's a significant number ofcustomers you say I don't want
to have to sit in my houselistening for the doorbell for
(07:03):
even a one hour time slot.
I want to get my productexactly when I want to get my
product.
And actually I'm a part of thismarket because when I, you know
, buy, you know, a book orsomething from Amazon, let's say
, I choose the locker option.
And why do I do that?
Because I control exactly whenI go and pick it up.
(07:25):
I'll do it while I'm puttingpetrol in my car, so you know
it's not an extra trip.
So it saves the consumer timeand money that otherwise would
be spent waiting.
You know, waiting for thedoorbell to ring inconveniently,
or travelling somewhere for aspecial trip and I think this is
the big news to the UK marketand I really think the UK market
(07:48):
is ripe to change, to reallyadd this locker channel in the
coming two, three years.
I think it's going to be a hugeexplosion because when the
realisation comes that some oftheir consumer base not all, I'm
absolutely not claiming thatall will, but a significant
(08:09):
number of people currentlyordering and getting delivered
to their home will actually behappier to go to a locker pickup
point, I think that's going tobe one of those huge UK light
bulb markets and the UK retailmarket will really change
because the carrot the carrot ofcost of doing home delivery is
(08:30):
so big, it's such a huge costthat when people realise that
you can actually realise thosehuge cost benefits and your
customers will be happier, it'sthe ultimate win-win.
And I haven't even begun tomention the environmental
benefits.
I mean fleets of trucks andlorries and delivery vans
(08:54):
driving around from house tohouse to house to house.
The cost of that's huge but thecarbon footprint is huge, the
fuel spent on that is huge andif you can eliminate even a
portion of that whilst making aportion of your customers
happier, then I think retailersare really, really going to go
(09:15):
crazy for this solution and Ithink it's going to be huge.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Well, everyone's struggling and backtracking
slightly on their 2020, 2030 netzero challenges, aren't they
including kind of the governmentand alike?
So there's a huge cost.
I suppose my working assumptionwould have been that the
organisations would just startto put the cost up of last mile
and almost price.
Unfortunately, people out ofthe market has it got more
(09:40):
expensive.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, it's one of these things where the carrot
and stick debate is always there, and if you have to provide a
stick to encourage a certainbehaviour, then maybe you have
to If you can do it with thecarrot and the carrot is
convenience, so if you can saythere's a more convenient way
for you, the customer, you knowwhen you're on your school run,
(10:05):
drop in at the locker on the way, pick up the kids, go home.
You have total control overwhen you pick up your online
order.
As I say, it's not adding atrip, it's not adding any cost.
So you get convenience and youknow the flexibility to do
things when you want, at thesame time as being beneficial
(10:26):
for the environment, becauseit's really hard to stress.
You mentioned the net zero goalsand the Environmental aims that
companies have.
I think this is also a hugeopportunity for them, because
most companies are thinking Well, if I convert my fleet to
electric vehicles, I'll makesome big inroads on the
(10:47):
environmental front, and they'reright, certainly, but it's not
solving all of the problem.
So I read somewhere that thecarbon footprint of an electric
vehicle is around about a thirdof what a petrol or diesel
vehicle will be.
So it's not zero because it'selectric.
It certainly helps to solve theproblem, but it doesn't remove
(11:09):
the problem.
Removing the special trip tothat house to deliver those
groceries, that takes away 100%of the carbon footprint.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, I think there's still yeah, there's still that
debate isn't there as well, ofthe end to end production of an
electric car.
Is it as environmentallyfriendly as being suggested with
the creation of the battery?
There's still a massive onknown in the disposal of the
battery.
So so, yeah, you're right, wehave people have to be careful
on just switching to electricflea.
Is is the panacea and clearlythat's a significant cost as
(11:42):
well.
Yeah, so I suppose I'verationalized it in my mind as
you've been speaking is ondemand.
So if I want to watch a film Athome, I can put Netflix on and
I can watch it.
When I want to watch it, I canpause it.
I can watch over three nights.
One night I can rewatch it.
Really, what, what we're almostgetting to here is and let's use
(12:03):
grocery is the example shoppingon demand.
So as a retailer, I know that inbetween X windows you're gonna
collect it, which I think isreally, really helpful for a
retailer, because back toprobably our old world's Tim, if
you've got known demand, that'splanable.
That's far easier to staffResource and carry out the
(12:23):
activity at given times thanUnknown demand which is me
walking in, if I feel like itthis afternoon, if I feel like
it tomorrow, to browse the shop.
So I think there's a wholebunch of, you know,
environmental stuff on demand,you know, in my time windows at
my preference.
But also Clearly there's a costbenefit at the retail side.
(12:45):
But also from a planning ofworkload point of view it should
become far more known.
So fit or fix this probably theword far more known rather than
variable and variable is is thebit which absolutely screws all
your schedules, because do youknow, if a coach load of people
are going to turn up and bysandwich it's going to throw it
(13:06):
down, no one's going to come inright.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Right and and you're right that there's there's
knowing the demand, there's alsoinfluencing the demand, so you,
you may be able to giveincentives towards, you know,
certain time slots, certaingeographical locations, so it's
an interactive thing.
You can, you can also influencethe demand, but certainly
(13:29):
knowing what it can be.
But I, but I think I think justhaving multiple channels
Available to customers Is goingto be the most important thing
because the the cost-savingelements there.
They're really exciting andthey're particularly if you can
get Home delivery moving toother channels.
The cost savings are absolutelyhuge.
(13:51):
But I think the the customerfocused positives Are even more
exciting in a way.
So if you can say to yourcustomer base, instead of two
options you know home deliveryand there'll be options within
that you know fast delivery,slower delivery, you know choose
your urgency type stuff options, for sure, but but broadly
(14:13):
speaking, that's home deliveryor Click and collect.
You know you come, come to usand and pick up your stuff.
As well as that, there areother channels available for
your convenience and, like I say, some portion of the market is
going to going to really likethis and it's not necessarily
just lockers.
I think they're a reallyimportant addition that will
(14:34):
come in the UK.
But in some market marketsthere are things like
drive-through collection pointswhere you know you go into a
Space and a system will readyour license plate and know that
you've just arrived.
And so by the time you get tothe Pickup point, your orders,
they're waiting for you.
Throw it straight into the bootOff, you go.
You know that's a channelthat's barely Existing in the UK
(14:58):
.
Maybe that's something that'sinteresting.
There are also things liketemporary Channels.
I find this Really interesting.
Yeah, the locker example that Igave the, the sort of mass
collection point.
Historically that's been afixed thing.
You know we put a bank of youknow red lockers somewhere in a
car park and everyone knows it'sthere and that's where it is
(15:20):
and that's where it stays.
But actually strong point hasMobile lockers as well, where
you might think there's afestival coming up.
You know why don't we Put atemporary Collection point at a
comedy festival for a couple ofweeks?
You know people are there,people are going to want product
.
Why not make it convenient?
(15:41):
Why not make it a good brandingexercise?
You know, let's show theattendees to some event that
there's a channel here where youcan really conveniently Get the
products that you need.
So you know mobile lockers,temporarily, it could be with
with sporting events.
It could be again in theNordics.
One thing's quite commonThere'll be a Scheme season.
(16:03):
Let's say so.
Let's have the collectionpoints In the places where
everyone goes for their skiingtrips, and then when it's the
summer and those places are notfrequented, no need for it to be
there.
So you can have temporarychannels for different reasons.
And I think this yeah,ultimately these options are
addressing cost and theenvironmental issues that tend
(16:25):
to go along with cost as well,but they're also giving positive
new options for customers tomake customers happy and
ultimately be more loyal to yourbrand and probably even buy
more frequently or by largerwhen they do buy.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
There must be opportunities as well in places
like inner city hotels, whereyou've got food being delivered
that could be stored in thereand you almost become endless in
terms of the things that youcan think.
You know ordering parts orsomething.
A car dealership if you werejust picking up bits, you know
Halfords, probably a greatexample where I just want a bulb
(17:02):
from a car and there becomesendless when you start to put
your mind to it.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
It really does.
And you know, in that examplethe Halfords example you know,
maybe I was busy all day doingwork or something and by the
time I'd like to pick it up, thestores closed.
You know what a pity.
Well, if it's a locker, youpunch in your code, you pick up
the product, you know you're notencumbered by sort of
operational matters like when'sthe store open.
(17:29):
So there are many, many reasonswhy this channel, in particular
the locker channel, is somethingthat delivers both convenience
and cost reductions.
And, as I say, when I look atthe UK retail fulfillment market
, I think the locker channel isthe thing that really is going
(17:51):
to transform this market in thenext few years.
And it's not.
This isn't a you know.
Theoretically, I think thiscould be a big thing because
there's a you know such a strongcost saving case.
It's not theoretical at all.
You can point to markets thathave done this right, where it's
a very significant part oftheir online structure and where
(18:15):
the business case and thepositive customer feelings
towards it are very well knownand very well documented.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Brilliant.
So on the last episode wetalked around kind of the
automation piece, amrs.
Some of the humanoids hitclearly with this one.
We've talked about last mileand lockers.
If people want to find out more, tim, take you up on some of
those kind of other countriesare doing this.
Teach me, show me where's thebest place for them to get in
touch.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
I can be emailed at timwheeler, at strongpointcom.
You can probably find me onLinkedIn although there's
probably many Tim Wheeler's, butTim Wheeler, strongpoint,
linkedin's a good place to goand, of course, the Strongpoint
website.
Ultimately, you'll get to me aswell.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Brilliant.
So we'll link your name on theshow notes to your LinkedIn
profile so we don't find adifferent Tim Wheeler, because
that'll be awkward for him, I'msure and we'll also put a link
to the websites so people canclick straight through to reach
out if they've got any morequestions.
Great stuff.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Thanks, simon.
Thanks for having me againBrilliant Now.
Always a pleasure to catch up,Tim.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Look after yourself and we'll speak to you.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Thanks, mate, bye-bye .
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