By
creating a highway to consumers, e-commerce gave ABF Freight System
a chance to develop a new line of business: U-Pack
Moving.
When
moving, people can rent a truck or hire a full-service mover.
Consumers who rent must also drive. A cross-country move can be
painful, if not dangerous, for inexperienced drivers when road
conditions are rough or a truck is poorly maintained. Full-service
movers drive, load and unload, and charge big bucks.
With
U-Pack, launched in 1997, ABF provides the truck and driver for
a cost near the do-it-yourself truck rental rate The customer
loads and unloads. ABF quotes prices and factors in discounts
via the same rate quotation mainframe application it uses for
its freight business. For instance, midweek pickups cost less
than weekend jobs.
"We've
always been able to offer this service, but aside from running
a Super Bowl ad and other cost-prohibitive methods, how do you
reach customers?" says Bob Davidson, vice president, pricing
and marketing for ABF in Fort Smith, Ark.
The
answer, of course, is e-commerce. ABF only sells U-Pack over the
Web, relying on search engines to drive traffic to the site and
word-of-mouth referrals. This low-key, low-cost marketing works,
Davidson claims, with customers for
U-Pack
more than doubling annually. While ABF won't release exact
figures, a company spokesman says U-Pack handles thousands of
shipments each year.
Likewise,
Davidson says consumers can also use the Web to schedule the rare,
extremely large shipment, such as the sale of a motorcycle via
eBay.
