Deep roots, strong wingsDeep roots, strong wings

Parcels & Logistics North America

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RADIAL

Radial markets a range of services all along the e-commerce logistics chain. Based on effi cient fulfi lment and delivery options, intelligent fraud detection and payment processing, and personalised customer care, Radial’s omnichannel solution matches supply to demand. Hundreds of retailers and familiar brands partner with Radial to simplify their post-click commerce and improve their customer experience. Radial brings fl exibility and scalability to their supply chains and optimises how, when and where orders are placed and fulfi lled.

Radial’s success is dependent on the success of its clients. With that in mind, putting clients at the centre of everything was Radial’s overriding aim in 2018. No surprise then that Radial’s mission statement is: “To help our clients succeed”. Among other things, that means getting a precise understanding of what clients need and being fl exible enough to follow the market.

Radial’s client portfolio includes a lot of established e-commerce names, with 107 million processed orders and

E-commerce activities, logistics service provision and the international parcel business in North America are driving growth for bpost. We aim to give Radial a leading role on this promising market. E-commerce accounts for some 15% of all retail in the United States, with sales of $540 billion. In 2018 Radial focused on driving client retention and winning new contracts by putting clients back at the centre of things.

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14.5 million customer care contacts. But it also targets new players, with which it can grow as a genuine partner. The largest share of Radial clients are active in fashion, including clothing, shoes and accessories, in health and beauty, and in sports articles.

Payments, Tax and Fraud

Radial markets e-commerce payment, fraud management and tax calculation services to ensure a smooth customer experience, eliminate the risks of fraud and close the maximum number of successful sales.

• Payments: Radial processes and settles payments and handles any disputes. Checks are also made to ensure the buyer is able to pay.

• Combatting fraud: detecting fraud is a balancing act that Radial pulls off with a tried-and-tested combination of machine learning, big data and human intelligence. With less than 1% of orders rejected, Radial has one of the highest approval ratings in the industry, while exposing its clients to no financial risk whatsoever.

• Tax: Radial calculates additional tax (which differs from state to state), based on a set of parameters, such as where an order is placed and how it is shipped. Both buyer and seller know the tax payable on the shipment, so there are no unpleasant surprises for either party down the line.

Each of these services is a strong plus that helps persuade clients to do business with Radial. Radial also assumes the risk related to fraud issues in spite of the various security checks.

Omnichannel technology

With the need for a seamless, uniform brand experience in mind, it’s essential that merchants are able to offer their services in various digital and physical channels, online stores, and bricks-and-mortar stores, with advanced order management and fulfilment. Consumers want to shop online and receive their orders when it suits them.

That demands a seamless system connecting the retailer’s order channels, fulfilment and delivery. Which is exactly what Radial’s omnichannel technology provides: consolidating all customer

orders, inventory, distribution centres, stores and suppliers into a single, seamlessly coordinated post-click experience. In 2018 Radial decided to unite its various order management solutions into one system, Radial Order Management. The self-service user interface and integration possibilities also help ensure speed to market and has clients up and running within weeks.

Radial Order Management makes sure that only available products are visible in the ordering channels. What’s more, e-tailers have control over order management: they might opt to fulfil a given order from the nearest location to the customer, in the cheapest way or on the basis of a stock inventory. They can also decide how much stock they want to be available online versus holding back for customers in the physical store. Returns can be re-entered in the system, even if the buyer orders online and then brings it back to a brick-and-mortar store.

Radial Order Management enables clients to use their own stores as a fulfilment centre, with various flexible options, such as “ship-from-store” (online orders are prepared at and shipped from the same point of sale), “in-store pickup” (online orders are prepared at a point

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of sale and picked up by the customer), and “ship-to-store” (orders are prepared elsewhere and shipped to a point of sale for pickup by the customer). Radial also recently introduced the ability to enable “associate delivery” (orders are prepared at a store and store associates deliver the orders directly to the customer the same day). That gives e-tailers a range of options to get orders into their customer’s hands while continuing to have the store function as a point of contact.

Radial Order Management also enables merchants to drop-ship, that is sell products online that are in stock at a wholesaler or manufacturer. The order is forwarded to that third party, which ships it to the end customer.

Merchants can also use Radial Order Management to create their own reports and analyses to give them better insight into their orders (such as quantity, type and locations). They can also deploy historical data through machine learning algorithms to generate predictive reporting such as demand forecasts and inventory optimization to inform merchants on how best to set up the business to achieve their goals.

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Fulfilment and supply chain services

Radial naturally also provides fulfilment services from its own sites. Customer orders are processed and shipped in a seamless process, drawing on more than a million square meters of fulfilment capacity, innovative technology and customised transport solutions. Not only when orders come on a steady, regular basis, but also during peak periods like Christmas and promotional campaigns.

Radial has 20 fulfilment centres spread across the United States (one in Canada). All but one service clients with a varied range of products, which enables them to optimise the size of the team at any given time. The scalability of the operational activities enables Radial clients to respond to promotions and peak periods. A crucial factor, bearing in mind orders can increase five-fold around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. To deal with that huge spike in volume, Radial can rely on a very robust process and the strong

combination of permanent and temporary staff.

A new type of product offering was launched in 2018, a kind of “pop-up” store by which available capacity at a fulfilment centre is used to support the logistics of short-term promotions. By way of example, Radial provided the logistics services for the online sale of around a million scented candles on behalf of a major player in body care and health products.

And in 2018 new technology was piloted to facilitate the picking and compiling of orders at the fulfilment centres. Intuitive devices shorten the time new hires need to learn the ropes, which means they can be deployed faster, especially at peak times. There was even an experiment with smart eyeglasses in 2018.

Radial offers a full menu of fulfilment services and options for clients to choose from. They can choose how their orders are packaged, based on the contents as needed, and whether samples or vouchers should be added. Products can also be personalised, with the addition of a

message, or the embroidering or printing of the buyer’s initials, say.

Radial works with shipping and delivery partners, from major national postal and courier companies to smaller regional operators. The choice of partner is based on a set of parameters and requirements established with the client. Speed, weight and destination are the big three, but other value-added services like delivery at a precise time, signed-for delivery, insurance, track and trace, and text message notification are available. Radial clients can choose the delivery options they need from a set menu, based on the expectations of their own customers. Radial takes care of the entire relationship with the postal companies, including any complaints, so clients can concentrate on what they do best.

Radial complies with the specific rules and requirements of the client with regard to returns. In accordance with the client’s wishes, checks are conducted on returns to ensure they are not damaged and nothing is missing.

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x5Radial processes up to five times

more orders during the peak period.

Customer care

Radial also provides customer care services on behalf of big brands. State-of-the-art technology is harnessed to ensure smooth interaction with every customer.

To that end, Radial runs four call centres with a total average capacity of 1,300 agents, raising to 3,800 agents when needed at peak times. The centres logged 14.5 million customer contacts in 2018. Around two in three were calls, although email and chat continue to eat into that figure. And Radial launched a text message service in 2018. The customer care services are accessible 24/7 in three languages (English, Spanish and French).

Radial offers a varied range of services:

• Before-sales services: help with placing orders, information about articles (ingredients, composition, dimensions), help with paying for,

placing (or cancelling) orders on behalf of the customer.

• Order follow-up: information about order status, expected delivery time and so on.

• After-sales services: handling complaints, help with returns, information about loyalty programmes, satisfaction surveys and so on.

Ultimately, it’s Radial’s clients who decide what services they buy, based on their needs and spend. Service level agreements are then agreed, setting the performance criteria in terms of response time, quality and more.

Radial wants to help its clients build long-term relationships with their own customers. The call centre agents are immersed in the brand they represent, becoming real ambassadors. That is the key to success.