Nov/Dec 2003

ByBox, the specialist in box banks for unattended deliveries, has taken over the Hays group's field support business in a surprise move that puts it in a leading position in the UK market. Mark Garritt, previously sales director for Hays Field Support, becomes ByBox UK sales director.

For most of the past year ByBox has worked with Hays in marketing its electronic box-bank solution to the business-to-business sector. Hays was already a leader in box systems, operating a network of 10,000 "dumb" lockup boxes at 500-odd locations around the UK. By joining forces with ByBox it gained access to an intelligent system that could alert users of deliveries and handle data input on site.

Any thought that Hays might take the lead role, however, have been reversed since the Hays group was put up for sale. Instead, whilst looking for a buyer it has been disposing of some specialist or niche businesses.

ByBox was launched three years ago, and although always targeting B2B as well as B2C business, initially gained a higher profile in the B2C market. This position was reinforced when it emerged as the most effective of a range of unattended B2C solutions investigated by Royal Mail, and trials are still ongoing.

But managing director Stuart Miller readily admits that the B2C market has been slow to take off, whereas the B2B parts delivery market has proved more fruitful.