Largest North American Home Delivery Service Prepares for E-Commerce by Aligning With Exel Logistics

Furniture World Magazine

Exel Logistics, a leading global provider of supply chain management solutions, announced it is aligning its Merchants Home Delivery business with Exel Logistics. The alignment expands the capabilities and service offerings of both businesses and supports the company's e-commerce strategy. Merchants Home Delivery, headquartered in Oxnard, California, specializes in delivery of furniture, appliances and electronics. The company, which provides delivery for some of North America's largest retailers, extends its high level of service into customers' homes through product delivery, set up, installation, usage demonstrations and removal of old products and packaging. The company's 1,500 delivery teams make an average of 15,000 deliveries a day, or 4.5 million deliveries per year in the United States and Canada. The company has been in business since 1970 and was acquired by NFC, Exel Logistics' parent, in 1984. Chris Munro, senior vice president, strategy and development for Exel Logistics, said that the decision to align Merchants with Exel Logistics at this time was driven by two factors. "An increasing number of manufacturers and retailers are looking to create competitive advantage and add shareholder value through the supply chain," Munro said. "By better integrating our services, both Exel Logistics and Merchants Home Delivery can provide our customers with a more complete supply chain solution. In addition, there is strong demand from the market for a logistics provider who can support e-commerce. Bringing together the resources of Exel Logistics and Merchants positions us to quickly introduce a service offering specifically for e-commerce sales of furniture, appliances and electronics." Currently, retailers and manufacturers of furniture, appliances and electronics face a significant barrier in capitalizing on e-commerce because the size and complexity of their products prohibit shipment through established channels. A national home delivery network, with services tailored to direct-to-consumer marketing, will open new markets for these businesses. "Adding Exel Logistics' information technology, supply chain design, and international resources to our established offering positions Merchants to leverage our leadership in home delivery into the rapidly emerging e-commerce market," said Jim Allyn, president of Merchants Home Delivery. "This represents a major opportunity for us to grow our business." To prepare for this growth, Merchants is implementing an organizational structure that provides its customers with a single point of contact, regardless of the scope of their operations. Recruiting, development and new start up activities are also being centralized to allow accounts to be staffed more quickly and new operations to be started up more efficiently. "Exel Logistics' information technology capabilities and supply chain and warehouse design services will create new business opportunities and strengthen our relationship with existing customers," Allyn said. Merchants will also be able to integrate its delivery services with Exel Logistics' European operations, which provides home delivery services to Marks & Spencer and Argos, both major European retailers. Exel Logistics will extend its practice of identifying and transferring leading practices across its global operations by ensuring best practices in areas such as supply chain design, freight management, integrated warehousing and distribution, training, and project management are leveraged across the entire organization. Exel Logistics is one of the world's leading providers of supply chain solutions with more than 700 strategic locations in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. Merchants Home Delivery is on the web at www.mhds.com.