what3words, an addressing system, and Quiqup, the London-based startup that offers on-demand logistics services to consumers and retailers of all sizes, have revealed the results of an experiment in on-demand delivery. In a race across London, Quiqup couriers – also known as Quiqees – pitted 3 word addresses against traditional addresses. On average, using traditional addresses took more than twice as long at pick-up and drop-off points. When it came to overall delivery time, Quiqees using 3 word addresses saw a 30 per cent reduction in time. With Quiqup delivering thousands of packages each day across London, the impact on operational efficiency could be profound.
For delivery companies, quick and uncomplicated service creates satisfied customers, but finding the right location isn’t always easy. Traditional addresses drop navigation pins in the centre of buildings, not the entrances, presenting huge challenges for large sites like shopping centres, hospitals, or office blocks. For residential deliveries, addresses often share the same postcode and finding entrances can be difficult. Navigation systems typically state arrival when within 80 metres of the destination pin, however, delivery completion takes significantly longer.
what3words provides an easy-to-use, accurate, and fixed address for every 3m x 3m square in the world. For example, a specific entrance to Westfield London is dreams.curiosity.preoccupied. Using 3 word addresses delivery drivers can navigate directly to the exact pick-up or drop-off point. Deliveries are faster, simpler and delivery time is easier to forecast – critical when passing on new jobs to drivers on the move.
Quiqup and what3words tested 2 drivers along the same route, each delivering 20 packages. One Quiqee’s set of packages had 3 word addresses, the other’s used traditional addresses; both were inputted to their traditional navigation routing apps. Along the way each measured speed of pick-up, drop-off, number of calls made to clients and the ability to accurately predict delivery time for each one.
With traditional addresses, Quiqup clients and end customers are called at least once in 1 in 5 of the pick-ups and drop-offs in order to ensure the delivery is made to the right address. With 3 word addresses, no clients or customers needed to be contacted to help find pick-up and drop-off points.
“It has always been our mission to provide our customers with the most efficient service possible,” said Danny Hawkins, Quiqup’s CTO and co-founder. “Delivering anything, to and from anywhere across urban areas, is a hugely complicated task – particularly in a city like London. We have therefore invested significantly in creating industry-leading technologies and operational infrastructure, and we are always looking for new ways to help our Quiqees deliver the best possible customer experience. We believe that services such as what3words have huge potential, both in on-demand logistics and more generally, and this initial test is certainly very encouraging.”
“The addressing systems designed hundreds of years ago are not equipped for how we live today. Street addresses are inaccurate, place names are duplicated and pins are dropped by default in the centre of large buildings. Industrial parks, rural locations and new builds just don’t have accurate location information,” commented Chris Sheldrick CEO and cofounder of what3words, “The last mile has been reported to contribute more than 50 per cent of the total delivery cost. With missed deliveries and wasted time, the last 80 metres could be responsible for a huge portion of that. Shaving just a few hundred metres or a couple of minutes off arrival times can save millions if you are a logistics provider. what3words is an instant solution helping to deliver the precision that our on-demand economy requires.”
Poor addressing costs delivery companies millions a year in last mile and address validation inefficiencies. In the UK 0.5 per cent of deliveries fail due to poor addressing – around 4.5M failures every year. Direct Today Couriers, operating in the North West of England, have seen an 83 per cent reduction in failed deliveries since integrating what3words.
In the past year 5 national postal delivery services have already adopted what3words as a global addressing standard. Last year, global logistics giant Aramex invested in what3words and will use 3 word addresses in eCommerce fulfilment operations across the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Logistics software provider Blackbay, address verification platform Allies, and the leading supplier of Ireland’s Eircode system AutoAddress, have all integrated what3words to increase efficiency and expand their range of customer delivery points. The system has recently been built into drone delivery systems with GoPato and Hylio in Costa Rica.
Available in fourteen languages, including English, Arabic, French and Mongolian, what3words is used by individuals, delivery companies, navigation tools, governments, logistics firms, travel guides and NGOs in more than 170 countries. It is more precise than traditional addresses, simpler than descriptive directions, and easier to communicate and remember than long strings of GPS coordinates. The system has built-in error detection and is available both as a mobile app and API integration. The system works offline without a data connection, ensuring it can be used everywhere.
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