Supply chain solutions, sorted
for Dick Smith
StarTrack provides iconic Australian electronics retailer Dick Smith with end-to-end logistics and product distribution to its 377 retail stores in Australia and New Zealand.
We offer a unique supply chain solution where orders are consolidated, packed according to store and state, then shipped into sea freight containers from China to Australia, before being delivered to stores or direct to online shoppers. Stock is also stored at our StarTrack warehouses in Australia and sent to New Zealand Post's warehouse in Auckland as part of a partnership that was facilitated by our StarTrack team.
Nick Abboud, Dick Smith's Managing Director and CEO said, “As Dick Smith extends its retail offering into new market spaces, we expect that further enhancements to the store fulfilment model will provide our customers with the flexibility of quicker and cheaper local delivery or click and collect in each of our stores”.
Image: Dick Smith Camberwell Store Manager, Geoff Mortimer
Our customers' behaviour and expectations continue to evolve in this digital age.
Consumers are shopping online, and demanding easier and more convenient delivery services. Businesses are seeking easy ecommerce solutions as they reinvent their customer service model for a digital, mobile economy. Meanwhile, governments and corporations are seeking help to digitise their services while ensuring over-the-counter help is available in all communities.
Consequently we have been investing to change and improve our services.
Delivery solutions for today's ecommerce market
Over the past 12 months, we've been combining the trust, reach and convenience of Australia Post with the premium service standards, express freight capability and business-to-business strength of StarTrack. Our parcel services business, under the StarTrack banner, draws on the strengths and interoperability of our vast network to deliver ecommerce-driven logistics, supply chain and parcel delivery solutions.
Improvements to our product and service offering this year provided online buyers and sellers with greater choice to select the parcel, freight, express, courier and international service that best suits them – based on cost, speed, visibility and security. And, working even more closely with major ecommerce marketplaces like eBay, Amazon and Google, we've simplified packaging and postage processes to offer customers more convenience and price certainty.
Digitising traditional postal services
We've digitised many of our traditional post office services so that customers can interact with us anywhere, anytime. No matter what device our customers use, our digital service improvements are empowering them to more easily manage their deliveries and transactions with a greater sense of security, choice and control.
During the year we made significant enhancements to our suite of iOS and Android apps. The popularity of these digital services was highlighted by a 23 per cent rise in digital product revenue from last year, driven by a 38 per cent increase in online mail redirection and mail hold services, and 39 per cent growth in our Online Shop.
Helping Australians through MyPost Digital Mailbox
Another way we've made it easier for businesses and their customers to connect simply and securely online is through our MyPost Digital Mailbox, which continues to build momentum. There are now 30 providers on-board including Telstra and AMP, as well as several utility providers and local governments. Our newest partners, Westpac and Velocity, also signed on during the year and will go live in 2014–15.
Modernising post offices across Australia
We are committed to keeping our post offices open and vital to the businesses and consumers they serve, and growing the everyday essential service that they offer.
Superstores are our modern post office solution, providing access to our full suite of postal products and services along with 24/7 access to postage vending machines and parcel lockers. These services are also available at many of our 56 Business Hubs, which are dedicated to local small and medium businesses. In 2013–14 we opened another 15 superstore outlets to bring our national network to 48 – including 11 in rural and regional areas. We will invest in another 50 rural and regional superstores over the next five years.
Extending post office trading hours
Our customers have also told us that they'd like easier, more convenient access to our services, and the extension of weekend trading is the next step in meeting those expectations.
We will expand to Saturday trading in November 2014. When you include licensed post offices, there will be around 2,300 post offices that are open six days a week.
Delivering parcels on Saturdays
This year we announced plans to deliver parcels on Saturdays and extend our next-day Express Post delivery service to households six days a week.
Customers already enjoy the convenience of six-day parcel deliveries during the Christmas period, but these changes mean that a six-day-a-week delivery service will be available permanently from November 2014.
The modern mailroom
to suit Telstra's online shoppers
With less people at home during the day, more online shoppers are diverting their parcels from their home to their business address.
Following a steady rise in parcels for employees at Telstra's Melbourne headquarters, Telstra was keen to improve the ways it manages mailroom traffic for its business and employees. By installing our parcel lockers at their Melbourne headquarters in November 2013, Telstra has reduced the burden of delivering increasing parcel volumes for its mailroom.
The location recorded 480 registrations – the highest number ever received for a locker in its first week of installation. By June 2014, more than 1,000 customers had registered to use the parcel lockers, making it our third most utilised parcel locker site in Victoria, and fifteenth in Australia. Employee feedback has been positive, with users describing the parcel lockers as “a very good initiative” and “a great gift to employees”.