Leading transport and warehousing company Knowles Transport is setting its sights on moving into the e-commerce arena having supported its customers with their online offerings throughout the pandemic period.

From the beginning of lockdown Knowles, in addition to managing an initial 30 per cent spike in volumes, has been responsible for picking, packing and distributing over 20,000 food parcels for emergency services staff on a daily basis.  It was a huge feat and an exercise which has` been a great success laying the foundations for Knowles Transport to build its e-commerce offer in the future.

A specialist in the transportation of ambient foodstuffs, Knowles Transport prides itself on its service offering.  Its service portfolio is already extensive and includes contract logistics, full-load, part-load and groupage services.  It has never been a company to stand still and throughout its 88-year history has consistently pushed the boundaries to ensure it continues to deliver a best in class service to its customers.

Its move into the e-commerce sector will be no exception.    With over two million square feet of warehouse capacity nationally, Knowles is ideally placed to add e-commerce fulfilment to its service portfolio to support both existing and new customers in this fast-growing market.

Throughout the COVID period online shopping has escalated to peak levels and despite the relaxation in lockdown measures there is little sign that this is slowing down.

What is evident is that COVID has changed the people’s mindset.  Indeed, a recent YouGov survey found only 9% of Britons want life to return to ‘normal’ even after the coronavirus crisis comes to an end.

Furthermore, according to the latest market data from analysts Kantar, sales for home delivery increased by a staggering 91% as UK shoppers continued to turn to online grocers amid concerns about visiting supermarkets with one in five families ordering online.

Alex Knowles, Managing Director of Knowles Transport sees the company’s transition into the e-commerce market as being a natural extension of its services.

He commented:  “The grocery sector is ever-evolving, and the needs of our customers are consistently changing in line with market and customer demands.   As a business we have always been agile and flexible enough to meet these demands and see e-commerce as being the next stage of our ongoing journey.”

Alex Knowles continued:  “COVID has undoubtedly changed people’s shopping habits forever and it is important that we are able to accommodate these changes by providing a high quality e-commerce service to our customers.

“We already have the warehouse space and necessary IT in place and apart from some reconfigurations in the warehouse to pick faces in order enable single item picking and the necessary packing facilities specific to customer requirements, we are good to go.

“It is an exciting opportunity and one which we feel confident we can deliver alongside our existing business maintaining the high levels of service for which we are renowned.”

https://www.knowlestransport.com/

Knowles Transport

About the Author: John Loughran