Very Group has extended its next day delivery cut off for customer orders from 7pm to 10pm, as a benefit of its automated technology at its East Midlands Skygate fulfilment centre.
The new cut off time is much later than most allowing Very’s 4.5m customers a further three extra hours to shop and receive their products the next day. This places Very in a strong position for a strong ‘Golden Quarter’, spanning Black Friday and Christmas.
Automated sortation, selection, advanced picking and single or multi-order packaging technology at Skygate enables orders to be ready for dispatch within 30 minutes of receipt, compared to around four hours at Very’s previous fulfilment centres. The business has also moved clothing and footwear returns to Skygate, enabling returned product to be returned to stock and available for resale within 30 minutes, with refunds greatly speeded up.
Phil Hackney, chief operating officer at Very, said: “Fast delivery is vital for a great customer experience, and that’s what we focused on when developing Skygate’s technology. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve managed huge volumes of orders and extending the cut off time was the next natural step. A later cut off for next day delivery gives even greater convenience to our customers and we’re particularly pleased to have it in place well in advance of Black Friday and Christmas. It’ll help us differentiate our offer even further during these crucial periods.”
Skygate now fulfils 95 per cent of Very orders and ship 750,000 products every week.
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