Rush has announces a new partnership with Amrod. The partnership, Amrod Direct, means that Amrod’s customers can now obtain quick access to a range of couriers, who will deliver their orders the moment they are ready for collection.
Says Amit Brill, co-founder of Amrod: “At Amrod we take pride in being at the forefront of innovation and enabling technologies. Partnering with Rush is part of our strategic and competitive approach to our business, as well as to our ongoing commitment to provide world-class services to our customers.”
As a courier aggregator, Rush provides an integrated platform for users to choose from a range of trusted courier partners. The platform enables customers to obtain quotes and compare couriers and their pricing, before making their choice based on reputation, price or delivery time.
Glenn Whittaker, founder and CEO of Rush South Africa, says that, once an Amrod customer’s order is ready for collection from its warehouse, the company informs customers via e-mail and provides them with a link to the Rush website (www.rush.co.za). Clicking on the link allows them to obtain the courier service of their choice and, once they have paid, Rush collects the parcel and delivers it to them immediately.
“We have spent the last 12 months integrating our systems with Amrod’s, tying back into their stock, warehousing and billing systems,” he says. “This means that we now know the volume matrix of every product in their warehouse and can factor this into our algorithms and determine the cost of a specific customer’s parcel instantly.”
This process eliminates the time-consuming process of the customers having to first contact Amrod to obtain a weight and size determination for their package, before wasting even more time tracking down various courier companies and obtaining quotes from them.
“Instead, Amrod customers now get the best of both worlds – they get immediate access to a number of couriers and can choose their service based on a range of factors, while also gaining the benefit of the large-scale cost efficiencies Rush offers. Furthermore, they also avoid the headaches associated with collecting the parcel themselves.”
The company’s current couriers are The Courier Guy, Skynet, Courier IT, Globeflight and Road Trip Courier, with more to come, says Whittaker. He adds that users of the Rush service now also have the ability to rate the courier they use, based on a five-star system. This means that they can also choose a service based on how well it is rated by other customers.
“Once their order is placed, customers receive a tracking number and are able to track the progress of their parcel via an online dashboard; right up until it reaches their door. Furthermore, the complete delivery process is monitored by Rush’s call centre (087 820 1748) and Rush also provides a parcel insurance option, underwritten by Hollard.
“I think the fact that an organisation as large as Amrod has chosen to partner with Rush demonstrates how effective our courier aggregator solution is. At the same time, their customers will appreciate the fact that they have more choice and that the entire courier process is now simpler, cheaper and faster for them. And of course, the more parcels we send every month, the greater the economies of scale we are able to leverage, and the more cost savings we are able to pass on to the consumer. This, ultimately, is what the Rush proposition has always been about: putting the power back into the hands of the customer.