Ecommerce delivery firm partners with what3words

An eCommerce delivery firm has announced its partnership with London headquartered global addressing company what3words.

APG’s UK retailer partners can now offer their customers delivery to an exact what3words address via a what3words-enabled logistics provider, such as Aramex in the Middle East. APG has established a presence in major trade lanes across the globe, with four major origins in China, Europe & UK, the US, and Australia.

what3words is revolutionising the way the world talks about location. It has divided the globe into a grid of 3m x 3m squares, and given each square a unique combination of three random words: a what3words address.

For example, ///bands.villa.swung identifies a precise 3 metre square on Primrose Hill with a panoramic view of London. This allows users to find, share and navigate to precise locations, anywhere in the world. The technology is available offline, and in 50 languages.

The global ecommerce landscape is fast-moving and experiencing dramatic growth. However, companies around the world all face the same challenge when it comes to delivering goods: imprecise addressing.

Couriers struggle to find exact drop-off locations – from the correct entrance to an apartment block, or a specific access point of a large warehouse. Addresses aren’t always accurate, postcodes often cover broad areas, and location pins drop in the middle of buildings.

With what3words, every front door, side door, mall entrance, delivery point, and spot on an unmarked road has its own three word address. Now, APG can pass a what3words address through to its partner carriers, allowing couriers to pick up and drop off packages accurately and efficiently in the last mile.

The technology is already proving beneficial for deliveries across the globe; tests in Dubai demonstrated that using what3words addresses improved delivery speeds by 42 per cent and reduced the total distance travelled by drivers by 22 per cent compared to more traditional navigation.

Francois Lazzari, COO and Deputy CEO of APG eCommerce Solutions commented: “We are thrilled about the partnership with what3words as our retailer partners and their customers can now benefit from a more accurate and frictionless delivery from the first attempt!

“Enabling what3words technology with our key delivery partners will enhance the overall customer delivery experience which is one of our key focus points. I can already see in the not too distant future the use of what3words for drone deliveries in the middle of the park!”