A sharp rise in kerbside home delivery, a trend driven by changing consumer behaviours resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic, has created record volumes for Hertfordshire-based Aztek Logistics, which is celebrating a decade of partnership with the Pallet-Track network.
Pallet-based products that would traditionally have moved between businesses are now going direct to the consumer – from bark chip to flat-pack furniture and other large household items – as stay-at-home DIY Brits have refocussed their energies while not at work.
It’s meant the relationship between the two businesses, which started in 2010, has boosted Aztek’s growth through the sheer diversity of products that flow through its five warehouses located in Letchworth Garden City.
The multi-million pound business has seen record pallet volumes in recent weeks, a trend that has continued despite the uncertainty in the UK economy.
Award-winning Pallet-Track, which has never lost a pallet in its 16-year history, has also seen a doubling in home deliveries across its 90-plus member companies during this time.
During the past three months alone, Aztek, which opened a new warehouse to meet demand in September, has seen a double-digit increase in service enquiries compared to this time last year.
Now with more than 140,000 sq ft of reliable warehouse space, the extra facility allows for greater capacity as Aztek begins preparation for peak season, its busiest period of the year.
It also recently found spare capacity in order to offer free warehouse space for the local NHS East Ambulance to store vital PPE, as well as providing delivery for specialist flooring to Nightingale hospitals across the UK.
Stuart Charter, founder and managing director or Aztek Logistics, said: “Being a member of a strong pallet network like Pallet-Track is a huge benefit to businesses like ours.
“The diversity of the product portfolio and the volumes coming through, particularly the growth in business to consumer deliveries, has boosted our business when other product movements have been affected by the slowdown in the economy – it really helps to balance our traffic flows.”
Nigel Parkes, founder and managing director of Pallet-Track, said: “Aztek is one of our bigger network inputters that has really embraced the pallet network model. It is a business that never stands still and is always looking for innovation and better ways of doing things.”
