Spring 2008

This April sees the launch of a new brand name on the UK fulfilment scene - Docdata. Braywood, the Witney-based fulfilment company that was acquired by Dutch parent Docdata 18 months ago, is now adopting Docdata group branding for all its operations - and it's on a determined growth path.

Andy Reedman, Braywood co-founder and now chairman of the UK operation, says the company is already in the market for another British-based fulfilment business to give it more wide-ranging national coverage.

The group has also spread its wings in another direction, taking a majority stake in a London-based web front-end development business, Hitura, which now becomes Docdata Commerce. In addition, it is expanding into payment processing, and has opened a UK branch of the existing Dutch-based payment processing business, Docdata Payments.

'We're now the only fulfilment company that can offer the full range of services, from web site development and payment processing to comprehensive storage, pick and pack and delivery,' Reedman says, adding: 'This all-round capability is becoming very important for retailers. It saves them countless problems with integration.'

 

He says many existing web developers lack a full understanding of the issues surrounding e-commerce Ð 'the stock management background and so on.' As Docdata, the company aims to bring extensive practical experience to bear.

This experience could be extended further as Docdata expands in yet another direction. 'We're acquiring minority shares in existing mail order and e-commerce businesses,' Reedman says. Not only will this open opportunities for additional fulfilment work, he explains, but it will also enhance the company's credentials as an e-fulfilment specialist.

He says e-commerce fulfilment is very much the company's focus now. It is promoting itself as 'the internet service company'. It has even narrowed down its focus within that market. 'We've decided to limit ourselves to product types that are suitable for parcel despatch,' Reedman says. This means it won't be looking for any further business involving large items such as furniture.

However, he emphasises that Docdata is happy to talk to retailers offering both large and small items. 'Drop shipping - deliveries direct from suppliers - is increasingly the solution for large items,' he says. Alternatively, Docdata can work with partner-fulfilment companies specialising in larger products.

The Dutch parent company made its fortune in CD and DVD media replication - a market in which it is still a major player. It has production plants in Telford, Holland and Germany. However, with the decline in the requirement for physical media in entertainment markets, it has turned increasingly to fulfilment to secure its future growth.

Reedman says the UK fulfilment market is 'extremely buoyant', and that a third of Docdata's current growth here is coming from existing customers. To accommodate this growth it is doubling its warehousing capacity at Witney this spring to 100,000 sq ft.

As part of the restructuring, the UK company has separated out its charity donation response handling business as a separate entity, now known as Docdata Response, which is headed by long-time Braywood executive Matt Cannon.

Reedman says information technology, and especially web development capabilities, will be central to the company's growth. 'We aim to help improve our clients' sales - to reduce the incidence of abandoned shopping carts and so on. We're not just a logistics operation.'

The company even plans to set up e-commerce stores of its own, usually in association with customers needing this service. A classic application would be when a manufacturing client wants to sell its products direct to consumers online, but is wary of selling upsetting existing retail distributors. Docdata can do the selling under a third-party brand name - and also handle fulfilment. It already does this for Hewlett-Packard in Holland. It's win-win, which seems to be the whole ethos of the new operation.