Manchester-based furniture and homeware storage and fulfilment specialist Andrew Porter UK has rebranded itself AP+.
AP+ specialises in end-to-end 3PL solutions for the furniture and homeware industries, from its purpose-built 300,000 sqft facility. The rebrand is a result of the unprecedented growth of online and furniture purchasing over the last 18 months, with predictions indicating little chance of an industry slowdown.
As manufacturers and retailers online and off sought to take advantage of booming demand, Andrew Porter UK was inundated by new and existing customers requesting storage space for container loads of flat-pack furniture, mattresses, sofas and other large homeware items, tech products, and more – and the company’s growth escalated.
As the industry flourished, Andrew Porter UK adapted to meet customers' urgent need for efficient and reliable end-to-end 3PL solutions including storage, picking, packing, distributing and returns management/reverse fulfilment, to meet the fast turnaround times its consumers expected.
Catherine Byrom, business development director, comments: “We quickly recognised that this was an opportunity for growth and took action, investing in our facility’s infrastructure and software to ensure we could meet and exceed the industry’s needs for dependability, flexibility and efficiency. We also decided it was the perfect time for this area of the business to rebrand under a new name – AP+.”
AP+ invested in the latest cloud-based systems for order management (OMS), warehouse management (WMS) and carrier comparison, providing real-time visibility and traceability of inventory, offline stock control and automated stock control, and integrating with 60 ecommerce shopping carts and marketplaces.
Its carrier management software automatically compares quotes from over 80 carriers to ensure the most suitable and cost-effective delivery method every time, whatever the product(s) or end destination. Collectively, these investments have streamlined the entire operation, giving clients peace of mind that this function of their business is running seamlessly, even if they are managing the company from the other side of the world.
MD Tim Aspey adds: “We are extremely excited to be in the best position as AP+ to support furniture and homeware businesses of all sizes based across the world with our industry knowledge and our specialist 3PL, storage and fulfilment solutions.”
Tim says AP+ has gone from strength to strength since its relaunch, while further developments will be announced later this year.