"Healthy eating by post" company Graze.com celebrated another
50,000 successful food deliveries on its two-year anniversary this
week - and attributes much of its success to an online mail-order
model made possible by companies like Royal Mail and Postcode
Anywhere.
Edd Read, co-founder of Graze.com, said: "We had this great idea
for a business, based on the fact no one seemed to be able to get
decent food at work - why not use the online mail-order model for
food packages?
"With co-founder Graham Bosher's experience of online
subscription services through setting up LoveFilm, establishing a
business that sent good, healthy and tasty food through the post
seemed to be the obvious answer.
"In retrospect, what helped make it possible for us were factors
like Royal Mail's progressive postal system changes, which allowed
us to send slim packages for a reasonable price.
"On top of that, one of our biggest business needs has been to
maximise the number of people that convert through our online
sign-up process. For that, we see using Postcode Anywhere's address
auto-fill as a bit of a no-brainer.
"Not only do you increase your conversion rate because the
form's quicker - but, due to the accuracy of the address data,
every package is more likely to meet its recipient too.
"This is especially important seeing as we have a policy of
sending replacement packages out if anything loses its way.
"Better addresses have helped us grow. We set up the business
exactly two years ago; now we're in a warehouse near Heathrow and
our staff is over 15-strong and growing fast."
Postcode Anywhere's Sales and Marketing Director Phil Rothwell
said: "Intelligent and efficient use of address data is essential
for this new breed of business start-up. They might use the power
of the internet to set up shop and grow at unprecedented rates, but
will often rely on the good old postal service to deliver physical
goods to the consumer.
"The obvious benefit to an online business is that faster
form-filling leads to increased conversion rates and more sales.
But more than that, according to the latest research, a mistyped
address could cost your business from £4.25 for each late
delivery to an average £91.34 if it results in the loss of a
customer.
"Many entrepreneurs plan on mailing out goods or marketing
materials at some point in the sales cycle. If they wish to emulate
the success and fast growth of companies like LoveFilm and Graze,
they should bear these costs in mind."