UPS Expands Inbound Visibility Services
United Parcel Service debuted an enhancement that automatically notifies customers of every package in the UPS system moving toward them, the Atlanta company said yesterday.The software, UPS Quantum View Inbound, is the most recent addition to the UPS Quantum View suite of visibility services.
Quantum View Inbound provides proactive notification of UPS air express, ground and international packages en route to the receiver's location. This helps businesses prepare for delivery activities in areas such as staffing, accounting, stocking and customer service.
Bolstering Quantum View Inbound is the company's proprietary address-matching system, which retains variations of street addresses within the United States. For example, for a package destined to Atlanta, shippers might enter "55 Glenlake Parkway NE," or "55 Glenlake Pkwy" or "55 Glen Lake."
Quantum View also recognizes variations in business names such as UPS and UPS Inc. This feature sets the system apart from other address-matching technologies, according to UPS.
"The ability to see what shipments are scheduled to arrive is extremely useful to businesses because it enables them to make educated decisions about workforce and inventory planning," said Jordan Colletta, UPS vice president of e-commerce marketing.
Bullock & Jones, a San Francisco retailer of fine men's clothing and sportswear, has used Quantum View Inbound to improve its catalog and online retail operations by precisely forecasting staffing needs for incoming inventory. Bullock & Jones estimates it has reduced the time to process new inventory from suppliers by about 15 percent.
There is no charge for the service to UPS account holders.
Melissa Campanelli covers postal news, CRM and database marketing for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
