Whistl is the UKs leading logistic company.
They offer a wide range of services to support eCom buisinesses, allowing them to deliver higher quality services to their customers, from delivery mangement to customer service solutions, all through one point of contact.
1. What’s your name and title, what do you do day-to-day in 20 words or fewer?
Tim Bruton, Group Partnership Director, new business focused working closely with e-commerce businesses to form a close working relationship to allow strategic growth for both parties through innovative solutions.
2. At Whistl you provide leading logistics solutions. Can you give us a success story for a D2C brand you’ve worked with. Eg what was the problem? what did you do? what were the results?
Our case study with Thompson & Morgan is a great example. The company is the UK’s largest mail order seed and plant company and has been with Whistl for their delivery needs since 2015.
Our main goal was to ensure first-time delivery success through correct address capture. We did this by implementing a proactive SMART delivery solution for Thomson & Morgan which captures a bad address event in real time as it occurs. Within 2 months of implementation, we highlighted 97% of the address issues and eliminated over 3000 of them.
3. You specialise in logistics – what piece of advice would you give to DTC brands who want to improve this area of their business?
It’s not purely about the commercial aspect of the final mile delivery. The services levels need to be consistent along with accurate information and the ability to be able to make inflight changes during the delivery process.
4. What do you think the biggest challenges facing eCommerce/D2C businesses will be over the next 12-18 months?
Some of the latest trends in B2C e-commerce include the increasing popularity of mobile commerce,
the use of artificial intelligence and chatbots to improve the customer experience, and the growth of social media commerce.
5. Complete this sentence – DTC brands that survive and thrive in 2023 will …
Understand their target customers by relevant segmentations, to appropriately tailor their products and marketing messages to stay both relevant and desired. Especially in a marketplace where choice and price could impact sales.
6. Name three D2C brands that are killing it and whom you recommend others to emulate/learn from.
For me a brand like SMOL could be a strong contender. They have a great sustainable model and have easy subscription sign up for customers. Plus, they also conduct constant market research to innovate within their sector.
Another brand that springs to mind is Huel, seeing as how they’ve taken over the supplement and meal kit market with affordable and vegan options – entering the market with an environmentally conscious approach. Plus, their “meal in a bottle” drinks have also become a staple on every co-op’s shelves.
Grind is another brand, with its compostable coffee pods, effectively cuts through the Nespresso market (while supporting Nespresso machines) all to simplify your morning cuppa.