We sat down with our Head Of Operations Tom Ball to learn more about his role, the logistical challenges posed over peak, and how Pertemba can help.
Q: Tell us about yourself, your role at Pertemba & what it entails.
I have been working in the logistics industry for 20 years in various roles around the midlands. I joined Pertemba in January 2023 as the Head of Operations where my main responsibility is to ensure customers orders are handled as quickly as possible through our warehouse and reach their destination on time. The departments that I have responsibility for are Warehouse, Customer Services, Content and our Carriers. Each area has its own challenges and the rate of growth that we have been experiencing brings them together to find solutions in a fast paced environment.
Q: Tell us about the challenges that Q4 poses in terms of global logistics, and how Pertemba can help.
We have a very efficient warehouse operation that has years of experience successfully navigating the peak period. Last year was record for order throughput where our team worked tirelessly to ensure every parcel was picked and dispatched on time, it’s amazing to see how the team operates in these busy periods, and seeing the flow through the warehouse at different times of the day demonstrates how efficient the team is. We’re expecting 20-30% growth in this period with the new marketplaces that we have launched, so we should see another record peak period!
Q4 poses the same challenge as in previous years where networks become heavily saturated with parcels. This can affect shipment times across the whole spectrum so staying close to the news from our carriers is key. We have been working hard to reduce our customer response time over the past year in readiness for the peak e-commerce period. A staple of the e-commerce world is for a customer to know where their order is, something that is expected but not always easily achieved with the various platforms we operate on. We have worked to successfully integrate the shipment tracking for each of our carriers in the marketplaces where customers can see the progress of their orders without having to leave the page.
Q: Tell us more about Pertemba’s range of carrier relationships.
Having our own carrier section system is vital to ensuring that we can adapt to the evolving landscape of logistics in each country. We find that working with a select group of carriers enables us to fine tune our delivery options in various countries and have the ability to make adjustments to the services we use based on data. There’s never a one size fits all type of carrier as we know there are carriers that are stronger in some countries and weaker in others. We harness this knowledge and have successfully negotiated carrier arrangements which work commercially for both our customers and our partners, allowing us to offer a global delivery solution all year round.