‘Sharing economy allows sellers to generate cost efficiencies,’ is how Stowga CEO described the benefits of collaboration.
Speaking at IRX 2019, Charlie Pool, CEO of Stowga, Anthony Sant, managing director of AO Business and Oli Hunt, senior manager, home delivery and service experience of Asda Logistics Services considered the topic of collaborating for excellence. They have agreed that in the past collaboration wasn’t so common amongst businesses whereas now competitors are joining forces in their combined mission – innovate economically.
In the panel chaired by Alex Sword, editor of our sister publication eDelivery, he asked the panellists “what’re the challenges of collaboration?” Anthony replied that it is in making sure that both collaborators are moving at the same pace. He said that during the collaboration process sellers should remind themselves of operational efficiencies with questions such as ‘how can we make sure that we’re not sending two vans to the same postcode? how do we manage returns without being penalised by huge expenses?’
Charlie pointed to the dilemma of investment as a challenge of collaboration. He said that there is a conflict between the front end of the customer experience – a glossy website and the back end – logistics. While not every collaborator might focus on last mile service, says Charlie, the positive side is that the focus is always on the customer experience.
Concluding the keynote, Anthony said that companies might lose sight in the game ‘complete with Amazon.’ However, in the world of automation, said Anthony, consumers want a human element which robotics can’t compete with.
