Enhancing both courier and customer experiences for Evri

Industry

Technology

Introduction

NashTech and Evri work closely together on the application and systems for the couriers to ensure that the couriers are satisfied, well-trained and compliant through these applications and systems.

The application and systems that NashTech worked on have brought several positive outcomes and business success to Evri, including:

Enhancing the service speed and SLAs.
Reducing the turnover rate of couriers by enhancing the employer-employee communication and transparency.
Improving Evri’s compliance and commitment.

A longstanding parcel delivery company

Evri is the UK’s biggest dedicated parcel delivery company, delivering more than 720 million parcels internationally a year. Evri works with most of Europe’s top retailers, marketplaces and pre-loved sites. The roots of Evri can be traced back 50 years to Yorkshire in 1974 but the business has grown over the decades and now has a team of 8,000+ employees, 25,000+ couriers, 15,000+ out of home locations and a growing network of state-of-the-art hubs and depots. Evri has more than 3 million independent 5-star Trustpilot reviews, on-time delivery rates which surpass 99%, an average courier rating of 4.7/5, and a commitment to provide an answer for everyone following a significant investment in customer experience.

Customer experience and employee satisfaction are the key

As a top-tier parcel delivery company, Evri has experienced substantial growth throughout its long history and currently, the company handles an impressive 720 million parcels each year. Currently, Evri is strategically pivoting towards expansion, seeking to enter new markets as well as capitalising on opportunities in adjacent ones. However, this rapid expansion has not been without challenges.

Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri, shared:

“Supporting the growth of the business while maintaining customer satisfaction is a key focus. To ensure the success in our target markets, we have to make sure that our customers are happy.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

This has brought various underpinning activities to light. Besides expanding the technology capability of the company, a critical strategic initiative that is pivotal to Evri’s success is the expansion of their courier network.

Marcus emphasised:

“Expanding the workforce, who are our couriers, is a real focus. Onboarding and retaining compliant and happy couriers are essential to delivering a delightful last-mile experience for customers. It’s the chain of events that if a courier is satisfied, he or she will make the customer happy at the end of the day.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

COVID-19 as the catalyst: Moving forward digitally

Like any growing business, Evri has been through a lot of changes and substantial operational shifts. One of the prominent reasons that leads to significant transformation was the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This unprecedented global event served as a major disruptor which necessitated rapid adaptation across Evri’s business strategies and operational activities.

Back in the day, before COVID, traditional parcel delivery required customers’ authentication by providing a signature. However, with social distancing, lockdowns and isolation being imposed strictly, providing a signature for parcel delivery became impractical and unfeasible. As a result, Evri was urged to embark on transformative digital initiatives, driven by the urgency to maintain business continuity and enable a non-disruptive experience to their customers. Consequently, in response to evolving circumstances, Evri pivoted from traditional signature-based authentication to a more innovative, contactless approach—photographic evidence.

“We took away the signature part and moved to adopting photos for compliance. Photos from our customers’ premises were taken to verify successful parcel handover. As such, we had to undertake a significant technological overhaul, enhancing our digital infrastructure to accommodate new legislative requirements, changing rules and the rapidly shifting operational dynamics in our industry.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

Unprecedented times lead to new horizons

In the post-pandemic era, as consumer behaviour reverted to pre-COVID norms, there was a resurgence in brick-and-mortar retail preferences. This shift was characterised by customers’ desire for in-store shopping experiences, which is contrasted with the eCommerce boom during lockdowns. As a result, the demand for online purchases saw a temporary decline, leading to a reduction in parcel delivery volumes from traditional retailers. This shift required Evri to be strategically agile and establish strategies to keep pace with the rapid changes.

Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri, shared:

“So, to fill the drop in parcel delivery volumes, we started going international. Building relationships and working with international partners and manufacturers, Evri started to focus on adjacent markets to make up for the volume loss.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

However, Evri continues to adapt to suit the changing needs of the UK domestic market. As the public has gradually shown its favour in home deliveries again, the parcel volume came back noticeably. This created new opportunities for Evri to expand and grow exponentially.

Evri has put more effort into their ParcelShops as well as the automated parcel Lockers, which is a quick, easy and convenient way to send, collect and return parcels 24/7. They also integrated with Post Office branches to provide a flexible service with various options for their customers.

“We’ve got home delivery service that is our focus as well. We recognise that a great relationship with the Post Office would be a good opportunity to provide broader and flexible options for our customers.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

Staying ahead of the curve

In today’s hyper-digital era, staying at the forefront of technological advancement is not merely advantageous—it’s a strategic move. For enterprises like Evri, continually aligning with cutting-edge and emerging technologies is critical to maintaining competitive relevance.

Marcus shared:

“We need to keep in-time with technologies such as automation and AI. Within Evri, we have an innovation team who has been looking at product innovation. Now, they’re also exploring innovations at enterprise level. We’ve implemented automation and are evaluating next-gen AI capabilities to maintain our competitive edge.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

He then emphasised:

“I want Evri to be the disruptor in the logistics market.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

Marcus also highlighted the need of monitoring consumers’ buying habits to strategically plan for their operations:

“We saw many changes in the consumers’ habits that had an influence on our operations. For example, lots of loungewear, garden furniture, or home equipment deliveries came in during COVID, creating a boom in parcel volume, but drop significantly afterwards. As such, we need to make sure that people’s buying habits from the retail sector are monitored thoroughly to keep up with the pace.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

To a greener future

In a time where sustainability is no longer a nice-to-have option, especially in the logistics and transportation sector, Evri has been at the forefront of embedding ESG commitments into its operational activities.

“We really focused on reducing our ESG commitment.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

Evri has reimagined the parcel itself—no labels, no excess packaging. Picture returning an item; customers just simply need to hand it over at a Evri’s ParcelShop, and the company will take care of the rest, eliminating the carbon footprint of home printing. Furthermore, with a network of automated Lockers that are strategically placed across the UK, couriers are able to deliver multiple parcels in one stop, significantly reducing vehicle emissions. Also, by using the Lockers, customers are also able to send, collect and return parcels 24/7 and at ease.

“By putting Lockers in place, the CO2 emissions from courier delivering parcels to your house can be reduced, slowly. And from a tech point of view, we make sure that our route and planning stays the most efficient we can possibly be. We also moved our digital infrastructure to web services and migrated certain operations to platforms with strong ESG commitments.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

Through these efforts, Evri is not just delivering parcels; they’re delivering on their promise to the planet.

Working with NashTech

To achieve business goals and scale quickly to meet demand, Evri decided to engage with a technology partner to support them. This has led to the relationship between Evri and NashTech.

Started with testing services as a trial project, NashTech demonstrated our capabilities and expertise in the technology field, strengthening our position as a trusted partner.

“I needed an experienced, mature, proactive test service and that was our venture into NashTech. You took on the test automation, test reporting and manual test for one of our projects. And it was a 5-star testing capability. It was fantastic and that’s where the relationship started.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

Speaking of how the working relationship with NashTech supported Evri in achieving their business goals, Marcus added:

“You helped us stay on track with the agility. The team from NashTech supported us to achieve the tech strategies in a short time scale. You allowed us to get an independent view on the quality of all our services in a quick time frame to be able for us to hit our targets.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

NashTech and Evri also work closely together on the application and systems for the couriers. From managing the delivery itself to helping couriers in the onboarding process, supporting them with compliance and managing human resources, it is essential for Evri to ensure that the couriers are satisfied, well-trained and compliant through these applications and systems.

Marcus emphasised:

“Courier life cycle is really important for us as an organisation and making sure that we’ve got happy and high-quality couriers means that we get good quality services off the back of that.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

The application and systems that NashTech worked on have brought positive outcomes and business success to Evri, including enhancing the service speed and reducing couriers’ turnover.

“As a result of the developments, we have seen several positive outcomes. For example, our compliance, commitment, speed of service and SLAs have improved. Furthermore, through the app that you’ve been working on, communication and transparency were also enhanced, reducing the turnover rate of our couriers.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

Talking about the relationship with NashTech, Marcus then added:

“We’ve had a really good relationship with NashTech. The quality is high. You’re keen, you understand, you learn, you’re adapting, we are also adapting together, and it’s been a success.”
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer of Evri

By driving changes and constantly finding ways to improve, Evri is committed to continuously enhancing the satisfaction of their couriers and customers. As the logistics and transportation industry evolves, Evri looks forward to becoming a disruptor in the sector by keeping up with the cutting-edge technologies and adapting themselves to the changing dynamics of the market. For Evri, the future is looking bright.