We’ve gone GLOBAL, and REDUCED PRICES EVERYWHERE!
Welcome to Blog Post 2!
Before we go any further, I just wanted to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone that has provided feedback and made comments on our new site, changes to our service, new products and more – It’s great to hear that you are as happy as we are, and we’ve had some fantastic responses to the new features and products we’ve introduced to the site as well as so many new customers so thank you, and welcome to any newbies that have joined us!
“The best advertising you can have is a loyal customer spreading the word about how incredible your business is” – Shep Hyken
So, as you may have seen we’ve made some recent changes to our postal networks, AND PRICES! We’ve been working really closely with our postal networks over the last few weeks after numerous international and UK enquiries about posting and feedback related to couriers we have previously used to deliver our orders. From an online retailers’ perspective and from being somebody that purchases online regularly generally, in the customer chain from you purchasing an item to it being delivered the driver or postie that delivers your order to you is just as important as the site you are purchasing from, the products available and the contact you make with a customer service representative or similar at that company. If you were to receive bad service from your delivery driver it would most likely put you off from ordering again to prevent that bad experience from reoccurring, just like you would if you received bad service when calling up to enquire about an item or order.
Previously you may have seen that we used UK Mail or DPD to deliver our large parcels, with Royal Mail for smaller parcels. For international customers, orders were delivered through Royal Mail and Parcelforce on their International services. We are pleased to now announce that we now send ALL small parcels through Royal Mail, and ALL large parcels through Parcelforce whether you are based in the UK, Europe or even as far as Thailand, Australia and New Zealand! Not only does this make our dispatching process a lot easier and quicker but it also means we can resolve issues better and have only two direct contacts with postal networks allowing us to build a better relationship with them and improve our delivery service as much as possible.
What P&P do you charge?
You may have noticed that we do not offer “free delivery” on our site, and instead have set postage charges depending on the size of your order. Many customers quiz us about this, asking why we don’t offer free postage even with larger orders and here’s why.
Postage is a value that all online retailers have to account for. If they don’t charge it at the checkout, they’re covering that postage fee another way and that is normally by increasing their product values so when you purchase multiple items, a percentage of the price you pay for a product goes towards the postage cost they’ll incur when dispatching your order. This can sometimes mean that when you are purchasing a large order containing lots of small accessories or a mixture of bulk and small items, you can be paying a lot more in postage than what is really required meaning retailers make much more from your order and meaning you are spending more than you are required to. We DON’T do this.
We understand how expensive pets can be, especially with unexpected vet bills and many pet owners adopting pets from rescue centres that require additional care such as supplements and remedies regularly. We sell ALL of our products at the lowest price we are able to, with our postage charges not being accounted for at all within our product prices. We then combine the total weight of your order to provide an accurate postage price which we do not make any profit from. Our postal prices cover our courier costs including fuel surcharge fees, a small percentage to cover packaging costs and nothing more meaning if we receive changes to our postage prices these changes are visible directly to you. This brings me to the fantastic news that POSTAGE PRICES HAVE BEEN REDUCED, not just nationally but globally.
New postal prices
Orders sent to UK Mainland addresses make up approximately 96% of our sales, with the remaining 4% going to International destinations. We always try to ensure we are as competitive as possible with all postage rates and work closely with our couriers to make sure we can get the best deal for you.
After extensive conversations with Parcelforce Worldwide regarding courier requirements for both ourselves and you, our customers, we are now able to offer LARGER ORDERS for LOWER PRICES! Before, our lowest Express Courier charge was £5.50 for a weight of 30kg (equivalent to two large bags of dog food approximately). With our new and improved service, we can now offer a reduced price to UK Mainland addresses of £5.25 for orders up to 40kg – that’s an extra 10kg of weight for a lower price! We hope you’ll all agree that this was a deal we could not refuse, allowing you to place larger orders and incur lower postage costs with the same fantastic service we’ve always offered. This reduction has been extended across all of our Express Courier charges, with us quoting postage prices for various weight breakdowns. These breakdowns have been included below for the UK.
Royal Mail 48
- Up to 1.5kg > £1.99
- 1.5kg to 2.5kg > £2.99
Parcelforce Worldwide Express 24
- 2.5kg to 40kg > £5.25
- 40kg to 55kg > £7.99
- 55kg to 70kg > £10.60
- 70kg to 85kg > £13.50
- 85kg to 105kg > £16.00
- 105kg + > £45.00
Full details of our postage services and prices can be found by visiting our Delivery and Returns page.
For a breakdown of International postage prices please contact us with details of your location.
Unfortunately at this time our lower postage rates for Royal Mail dispatch (under 2.5kg) are unable to be changed. Postal prices through Royal Mail have been increasing, but we have frozen our prices for this service and will continue to do so for as long as possible. We will always endeavour to keep our prices the same if not reduce them.
Why choose Parcelforce Worldwide and Royal Mail?
Parcelforce Worldwide – Express services now from only £5.25
Priding themselves on excellent quality of service and professional and experienced team members, Parcelforce Worldwide are a trusted courier for thousands of retailers as they continually deliver on promises. Offering the perfect combination of reliability and value for money, Parcelforce Worldwide endeavour to build lasting partnerships with retailers like us and tailor packages to our individual retailer needs.
Offering a wide range of services worldwide, Parcelforce Worldwide allow us to get parcels from A to B overnight, even to countries such as North America, providing a fast, efficient and trusted service perfect for our business needs and your customer needs. We’re now a nation with fast paced lives – when we want something, we want it straight away. With Parcelforce Worldwide, we can get an item to you in as little as 17 hours, with our cut off for same day dispatch being 2pm Monday to Friday and delivery times starting from 7am with Parcelforce Worldwide.
On top of speedy delivery, Parcelforce Worldwide also allow you to be in control of your delivery. Once your parcel has been collected by our driver, you will receive a free text or email notification regarding your delivery time and date. Their system allows you to select a different delivery date, delivery location (neighbour) or delivery to your local Post Office where it will be safely stored until you are available to collect it or rearrange delivery. With over 12,000 branches throughout the UK and many Post Offices having extended opening hours it’s really easy and convenient for you to pick your parcel up at a time that suits you, including Saturdays.
With access to the world’s largest delivery network covering more than 99% of the global population in 240 countries and territories worldwide, Parcelforce Worldwide has been supporting British business for over 25 years, and it’s heritage is part and parcel of every delivery so we can ensure excellent quality, expert hands and experienced teams, the correct security procedures, helpful customer service, convenient delivery and more even when the parcel has left our hands.
Royal Mail – Economy 48 hour services from only £1.99
Year on year, Royal Mail continue to be the most trusted national delivery company, with 76% of online shoppers saying they would buy through a retailer that used Royal Mail for delivery. Providing a service that online shoppers trust, Royal Mail are on the UK’s 29 million doorsteps six days a week dealing with small, medium and even massive parcels to ensure they arrive where we want, when we want.
Whether it is a UK or International delivery, Royal Mail continually provide an efficient, fast, effective and cost friendly service to us and to our customers and provide unrivalled global coverage allowing us to offer parcel deliveries pretty much anywhere in the world. With a wide range of products and services to suit all businesses, Royal Mail work closely with us to find the services we need with a dedicated account manager supporting us every step of the way.
Operating as one of the largest parcel delivery networks, Royal Mail sort and deliver more than one billion parcels in the UK alone and use established, trusted partners and GLS (General Logistics Systems) in Europe and further afield. Priding themselves on getting parcels to their destinations on time, every time, Royal Mail give us peace of mind ensuring our parcels are in good hands from the moment they leave our warehouse to when they safely arrive with you even if you’re not available at the time of delivery. With over 12,000 UK Post Office branches, Royal Mail provide a safe storage solution for any undelivered parcels in the UK so should nobody be home during the day you can either rearrange your delivery or collect your item from your local Post Office at a time convenient to you.
Can orders be left in a safe location?
To ensure safety of parcels, Parcelforce Worldwide do not operate a “safe location” service, and it is against their company regulations for drivers to leave parcels safe. If nobody is home to accept delivery, your driver will attempt to deliver the order to a neighbour and if they are unsuccessful in doing this it will be taken to your local Post Office where delivery can either be rearranged or the goods can be collected at a time convenient to you. Royal Mail are able to leave parcels safe. Therefore, if you have a location you and Royal Mail would deem safe (such as a porch, garage or similar) please add a note to your order at the Checkout detailing your safe location, and we will add this to your parcel to notify Royal Mail of your request.
How fast should I expect my order?
We aim to dispatch all orders within 1 to 3 days of the order being placed, with some orders being dispatched same day depending on the items ordered. Our products are located in two separate warehouse so can sometimes incur a 2 to 3 day dispatch time in order for us to transfer goods from our storage warehouse to our dispatching warehouse. If there are any further delays experienced with your order we will contact you via email within 48 hours of the order being placed to ensure you are notified as early as possible, and will provide as much information as we can so you know when to expect your order.
All orders sent with Parcelforce Worldwide are dispatched on an Express 24 delivery service to UK addresses. For Northern Ireland and similar, orders are dispatched using an Express 48 delivery service, with International Orders being sent on a EuroPriority or GlobalPriority delivery service with a delivery aim of 2 to 5 days.
For all orders under 2.5kg, these are dispatched on a 48 hour barcoded delivery service with Royal Mail, with a 2 to 3 day delivery time. If you require an express delivery service for smaller packages, please contact us once your order has been placed and we can upgrade your delivery to an Express 24 delivery service for as little as £2.50.
So, to recap:
- NEW Courier – Parcelforce Worldwide
- Price drop on Express 24 services
- Price drop on ALL International services
- Weight allowance increase for Express 24 services
- Express services now available on smaller parcels
We hope the changes we’ve made to improve our delivery service meet your requirements, and when you receive your next delivery from us please let us know your thoughts! As mentioned, our couriers are the last point of contact our customers have unless direct contact is made following the receipt of a parcel. We need to make sure they’re providing the same service we aim to directly with you, and if this isn’t up to standard we need to know!
Thank you again for your continued support, and from Shannon, Lisa, the poochies and I, have a fantastic Summer full of fun and sunshine!
Love,
Lauren x