November 2000

Retailers and e-tailers using outsourced home delivery services "are starting to realise the need to pay realistic prices for a decent service," according to Rebecca Jenkins, managing director of the Lane Group.

Lane has a specialist home delivery business, Home Lane, with its own call centre and distribution hub in Rugby, and this summer it bought out the stake of its 50 per cent partner in the venture, SHL Delivery Plus. Rebecca Jenkins says the two have proved "a good cultural fit". She blames "ridiculous prices" for the fact that the operation has so far struggled to make money, but says customers are now taking a more rational view. She says volumes are rising and the company is moving to a break-even point, with profits in prospect. "I believe passionately in the potential for the business," she told e.logistics Magazine.