Royal Mail acquires data firm to boost parcel unit

royal mail urged to show heartRoyal Mail is bolstering its services to online retailers by acquiring a cloud-based shipping and parcel data management company to simplify the posting and tracking of parcels.
The NetDespatch deal is the latest in a raft of Royal Mail acquistions in the sector. In July it bought a stake in Mallzee, which runs a fashion shopping app, and in September it bought a stake in the Australian start-up Market Engine Global, whose technology enables businesses to manage online shopfronts in global marketplaces.
NetDespatch, which will continue to operate as a standaloe company, has in more than 100,000 businesses customers in over 100 countries. The cloud-based platform enables order delivery data to be automatically transferred from a retailer’s system to its chosen carrier. Other processes are automated and data is collected and acted upon.
“Our aim is to make what is a relatively complex process simple, delivering improvements and savings to everyone in the supply chain, from retailer to carrier to consumer,” said Matthew Robertson, commercial director at NetDespatch. “E-commerce is exploding in the run-up to Christmas, and we expect to continue to steam ahead in 2016 and beyond.”
Royal Mail Parcels managing director Nick Landon said: “The acquisition of NetDespatch supports our strategy of providing our customers with leading edge e-commerce software. It allows customers with complex IT estates to integrate with us quickly and with the minimum of effort, allowing them to improve the service they offer to shoppers.
“We are confident that this acquisition will support the continued growth of our parcels business with new and innovative software solutions as the needs of our customers evolve.”

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