Panther Logistics has scored another success with the launch of a new booking app that makes it easier than ever for customers to arrange deliveries of bulky items.
The innovative two-man, white-glove delivery specialist has found that customers respond far more promptly when Panther contacts them via the app rather than by phone to make the final arrangements for deliveries.
“We are all busy people and often it is not convenient to take a phone call – you could be driving, in a meeting, in the gym, or answering another call or quite simply don’t recognise the number,” said Colin McCarthy, CEO of Panther.
“There are a hundred and one reasons why you may not pick up when the phone rings, so we looked for ways of making life easier for our customers to finalise delivery times with us.
“Now they can do it all via the app, without having to speak to anyone on the phone. It’s quick, simple and unobtrusive – they can do it at home, at work or on the move.
“It’s only a few weeks since it launched and already we have noticed a huge improvement – first-time response rates are now 85 per cent with the app, compared with 29 per cent by phone.
“Here at Panther we are always looking for ways to improve our customer experience and our new app certainly does that – it takes the hassle out of making arrangements.”
One of the UK’s and Europe’s fastest-growing small and medium-sized businesses, Northampton-based Panther has a reputation for innovation and excellent customer service.
It transformed the market by bringing the immediacy and responsiveness of the high street into the previously slow-moving two-man, white-glove delivery sector specialising in home delivery of heavy goods such as beds, sofas and other furniture.
Since then it has continuously driven up standards and introduced new services to benefit both its own clients and their customers, and now offers seven-day-a-week delivery, with a 10pm cut-off time for next-day delivery, the option of delivery on a ‘day of choice’, two-hour delivery windows, and wet and dry installation of appliances.
Sophisticated IT systems ensure that customers are sent a reminder text the night before delivery, then a text advising of a two-hour delivery window, while drivers have to phone ahead to say they are on the way when leaving the previous job.
The new app is especially aimed at customers who selected delivery on a ‘day of choice’ – a popular option with people who are upgrading or redecorating their homes and want to take delivery of furniture once the work is finished on their homes.
“Using an app on a smartphone or tablet gives customers the ultimate freedom to make arrangements wherever they are,” added Colin McCarthy.
Panther was named this year in the inaugural FT Top 1,000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies list, and it also appeared in the London Stock Exchange’s 1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain list for 2016. It has twice appeared in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100, in 2015 and 2016.