Luxury food specialist Cottage Delight is benefiting from nationwide next day parcel deliveries from APC Overnight. The award winning jam, marmalade and chutney company’s products are available in independent stores throughout the UK and it uses APC’s “Handled with Care” nationwide services to ensure that customers receive their orders on time and intact. Cottage Delight’s business is seasonal, with up to 2,000 parcels a month being delivered by the APC network.
With fast and careful deliveries, Cottage Delight customers experience a quality courier service that backs up the superiority of its products, which is contributing to the success of the company.
“We moved our courier business to APC Overnight to eliminate the handling problems we were experiencing with other carriers. The nature of Cottage Delight artisan-made foods requires that we use glass jars and bottles to package our products, and clearly, our customers expect their orders to be delivered safely and on time. They need to keep shelves well stocked with our products to avoid disappointing their customers – breakages have to be avoided,” says Mark Redfern, Operations Manager, Cottage Delight.
The company says that the consistent quality service provided by the local APC depot is essential to maintaining its leading position in the specialist food market.
“We have confidence in the APC team and we enjoy a good working relationship that is completely different from our experience with other carriers. The depot staff are responsive and have a good understanding of what we require. The team works hard on our behalf to provide a service that pleases our customers. To speed up fulfilment, the depot installed a special online booking, label printing and tracking system for us. This NetDespatch system speeds up administration and gives us the ability to track deliveries and have accurate proof of delivery,” adds Mark Redfern.
APC will also assist Cottage Delight by delivering products direct to consumers using its online store. This new development will give people access to Cottage Delight’s full range of products and it will also help direct people to their nearest local stockist.
Cottage Delight is a family-owned firm that began in 1974. Cottage Delight remains steadfast in its policy to supply only the independent retail trade. Its products are available both nationally and internationally in a variety of stores such as delicatessens, farm shops, butchers, fishmongers, traditional grocers and garden centres. The company is a proud member of Heart of England Fine Foods and Taste of Staffordshire.
