Online delivery links service set
By Brian Carroll -- Furniture Today, January 14, 2002
CONYERS, Ga. — A new consulting firm formed by a long-time transportation industry executive is offering furniture companies links to last-mile delivery providers, including national, regional, local and line haulers.
Edward C. Tracey, former president of Bekins Home Direct, has launched ECTConsulting. Beginning Feb. 15, he will offer an Internet-based subscription service to let retailers, manufacturers, e-commerce companies and catalog operations deal directly with end-line consumer service providers — and potentially take costs out of deliveries.
"The idea is to provide those who wish to have internal control of the delivery process with the opportunity to deal directly with a trucking or home delivery firm rather than going through a third-party logistics provider," Tracey said.
A Web browser interface will provide subscribers with delivery options for the area in question. To deal directly with a service provider, however, companies will still have to use the telephone.
Tracey claims savings of 20% or more are possible using his database.
"Some companies do not have the resources to send people into the field and find out what delivery companies are available in a certain ZIP code or what their capacity might be," he said. "ECTConsulting will have the ability to provide a database that includes localized referrals for installation and repairs, line haul carriers, and local delivery."
Tracey's database will include detailed information and references about the providers.
He said he hopes to fill his database with 3,000 service providers, retailers, manufacturers, e-commerce companies and catalogs by the mid-February launch date.
Database access fees will range from $50 to $2,000 per month, depending upon level of access and use. To be included, trucking companies will pay $150 to $2,000 per year, depending upon their number of locations and other criteria.
A preview of the service is available online at www.ECTConsulting.com, as is a case study project.
