2009 was a good year for RFT
Express Couriers, with a 34% increase in business during 2009,
from the previous year. The majority of new accounts gained in
2009, have resulted in repeat business with 45% of the total number
of new accounts resulted in being contract work. Contract work
is regular runs repeated daily, weekly or monthly, which makes
it easier to manage the increase. European runs contributed 25%
of the total increase, with Italy now taking the number one spot
from Germany.
For 2010 the target increase is 35% on the 2009 figures. RFT Express
Couriers have identified 150 plus companies who will be able to
benefit from RFT ‘s expertise in our niche market of ’Hanging
garment deliveries UK and Europe.’
Google contributed a considerable amount of visitors, with this
search term, coming at no 1&2 in most European searches, with
enquiries from North Africa, and as far away as China.
Bing the Microsoft owned search engine didn’t list us in
the UK searches on the first page, but they did put us at no 1
in the world search.
Over the Christmas / New Year break, we had the statisticians
analyse our databases and records, as well as the web stats, to
enable them to come up with cost savings. Part of the brief was
to analyse the transport industry as a whole, and spot future
trends within this sector, as well as the clothing manufacturing,
wholesale, and retailing sector, as well as the print industry,
and advise RFT how we could take advantage of these trends.
From the statisticians’ findings, several recommendations
were made in order to secure the 35% increase in turnover planned
for 2010 :-
• Promote the RFT Express brand through internet channels,
newspaper articles, press releases.
• The planned expansion into Europe would gain extra momentum,
by appointing ‘agents’ with local knowledge and
expertise in European countries.
• More emphasis will be placed on securing ‘back
loads’ to eliminate, where possible vehicles travelling
empty.
• Cultivate more contacts both in the UK and Europe, who
are able to generate extra business for RFT Express.
• rftexpresscouriers.com will be launched shortly as a
multi-language site.
• A more aggressive pricing structure for ‘contract
work’
• Restructure working patterns for subcontract couriers,
to increase efficiency.
• Further expansion of the ‘M1 Shuttle’ with
vehicles leaving Yorkshire during the day as well as the current
‘night runs’.
• Actively promote Yorkshire Courier.com. The current
promotional and hosting contract we inherited, finishes in April,
and will then come ‘in house’
• Retain vehicles with less than 125,000 miles coming
to the end of their contracts on the ‘Our Van- Your Livery’
programme. Thereby reducing the cost of expansion.
Sponsorship Programme
RFT Express Couriers sponsor Tiger Karate.net,
this will continue during 2010. Apart from a few local charities
we have helped with free transport; there will be no further expansion
during 2010 of the sponsorship programme.
RFT Express to Help Companies Generate Extra
Business
During 2010, RFT Express will compile a directory of the companies
in the industries where RFT Express operates. This will benefit
the companies who are selected for the directory by RFT supplying
a link for all the search engines to index, as well as giving
an easy reference to other companies within the industry. The
directory will be posted on all RFT sites, and will generate extra
business for the companies in the directory; there will be no
charge to the companies selected for inclusion.
The initial directory industries will be the fashion/ clothing
industry and the print industry. The directory will be compiled
from our customer records, and other sources.
Help for Newly Established Businesses.
In addition to helping established companies to gain more links,
and extra orders, RFT Express are considering offering new businesses
free web sites; the sites will be built free of charge by the
RFT web team. The web team will also supply SEO services at a
reduced cost.
During 2009 RFT Express established itself as an article and information
provider for the Courier industry. This will continue into 2010,
particularly the free software programmes, which have proved very
popular with small to medium sized businesses.
