Fastlane International launched 30 years ago, on 14 October, 1985. This was also the year the blockbuster movie Back to the Future was released, and the year that the internet began to take shape. Now Fastlane is looking back to 1985, and forward to where internet commerce will be heading thirty years from now.
Says Fastlane’s Head of Public Relations, David Jinks: ‘If we were to share a ride back to 1985 with Marty in his DeLorean, we’d see some key moments when the era of internet commerce first began to come together. The first Internet domain name, ‘symbolics.com’ was registered; Microsoft released its Windows 1.0 operating system, featuring mouse navigation to allow PC users to ‘point and click’ their way through screens or ‘windows’; Dell built and designed its first computer system, and the first mobile call was made in the UK on the embryonic Vodafone network.’
‘Today Fastlane’s customers, everyday people and businesses alike, book their deliveries using an internet site with a domain name, perhaps through a Windows computer or on their mobile phone or tablet. A tech wizard such as ‘Doc’ Brown would have been able to predict today’s world of e-commerce first taking shape. Certainly Steve Jobs did in an interview predicting people using PCs on the internet that very year.’
David wonders ‘What would happen if we climbed aboard the DeLorean again and this time took a journey 30 years into the future, how will the e-commerce and courier market take shape? Drones could be making your delivery, while some products will actually be ordered and then built at your home on your table top 3D printer. Crowd-sharing Uber-style technology will mean pooled car rides and local deliveries, cutting down on the number of vehicles families and businesses own. Tailored deliveries at the time you want to wherever you are will be the norm.’
Today Fastlane is part of the hi-tech ParcelHero Group, based in Brentford and partners with the world’s premier couriers such as UPS, DHL, TNT and DPD, with booking through their website wedelivertheworld.co.uk. David says that Fastlane might be celebrating 30 years in business, but it’s already looking forward to helping shape the future.’
