Paazl enables Under Armour to excel in last-mile delivery while expanding their European shipping network.
1
European Distribution Center
5
Carriers in use
13
Countries shipped to
35+
Shipping options with Paazl
Under Armour champions sustainability by driving up to 20% of deliveries to pickup points.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA, UAA) is a leading inventor, marketer and distributor of branded performance athletic apparel, footwear and accessories. The Under Armour brand promise aims to inspire, enable and empower human performance through innovative athletic products and compelling experiences.
In 1996, former University of Maryland football player Kevin Plank founded Under Armour with the idea to create a t-shirt, aside from the existing cotton offer, that would wick moisture and keep athletes cool, dry, and light. After starting the business in his grandmother’s basement in Washington, D.C, Plank moved operations to Baltimore, where Under Armour is still based today; a visible and active participant in the city’s revival.
Long-term success in its home market of North America led to an initial European foray in 2013. Over the next few years, rapid growth and the acquisition of larger and larger portions of its home base at the 1928 Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam led Under Armour to open its new EMEA HQ in 2019 at ‘The Olympic Amsterdam’, a modern development right next door to where the journey began; It is from here that Under Armour will continue to grow its regional base and replicate the success that has made it a top-three sportswear brand in the USA.
The Challenge: Under Armour required a scalable solution to enable local delivery options in each country that they sell to.
Selling to European countries comes with several challenges. Under Armour run a fully owned and operated business model in 13 European markets, each with their own language and unique way of doing business. When it comes to delivery, each country also has preferred delivery options per carrier, yet Under Armour operates from a single centralized hub in The Netherlands. Therefore, to be able to act truly local, Under Armour needed to elevate from a single-carrier, to a multi-carrier setup.
Under Armour required a scalable solution to enable local delivery options in each country that they sell to. Of particular importance was the ability to provide the same exceptional delivery experience across all devices, so that customers know when they can expect their orders to be delivered.
Track & Trace updates
In addition to the complexities of working with different carriers in each country, Under Armour didn’t have a clear overview of real-time tracking, which was used to support their customer service teams. When customers called the brand, a customer service teammate would have to manually log in to each carrier’s website in order to track the package using the tracking number.
Under Armour knew something had to change if they wanted to continue growing in Europe, but they wanted to avoid building multiple, heavy IT integrations to connect with local carriers.
“The Paazl multi-carrier setup gives Under Armour the ability to constantly optimize their conversion and improve their delivery hit-rate.“
The Solution
Paazl has enabled Under Armour to implement dynamic local delivery options in each country. Customers are now offered a variety of delivery options, including Pick-up points, Standard, and Express delivery. These options provide shoppers not only with choice, but also with an expected delivery date and timeframe. The multi-carrier setup gives Under Armour the ability to constantly optimize their conversion and improve their delivery hit-rate.
The UA customer service team is now able to keep track of all shipments via one central overview. The teams have a real-time overview from each carrier, directly within Paazl. They no longer need to go through the manual process of logging in to separate platforms to retrieve information.
Tracking questions can be resolved rapidly by searching for: Addressee name, Address, Reference or Tracking number. With Paazl Analytics, UA can keep an eye on its shipping data. No more surprises, and abundant insights to act on.
In collaboration with the US-based development team, Paazl has also helped Under Armour advance their cross-border shipments in Europe. The team is now able to easily add any local carrier they desire for international shipping in Europe.
In addition to UPS (previously their main carrier), Under Armour have added PostNL, Hermes UK, DHL Germany and most recently FedEx in the UK.
The results
- Quick, scalable new market entry without long-term integration processes
- Ability to quickly add local delivery options in multiple European markets
- Clear overview of real-time parcel tracking
- Insight into delivery status has accelerated the speed of WIMO ticket processing
- Fewer WIMO tickets by offering pick-up point
- Up to 20% of deliveries to pick up point locations
“The Paazl implementation has enabled UA to drive up to 20% of deliveries to pick up point locations, which has in turn led to far fewer missed deliveries and missing packages, a greener last-mile option, and a marked reduction in customer contacts.”
Paazl has provided Under Armour with the infrastructure to trial new ways of promoting alternative last mile delivery vs the standard-only options still offered by so many retailers today; an infrastructure from which Under Armour are keenly trialing localized solutions to mean that more and more customers get the products they want, when they expect them.
Moreover, having Paazl-powered services has given Under Armour a very visual reference point as to how well carriers serve key cities and regions, so that they can make informed decisions about which carrier options to consolidate or expand.
Under Armour know that there is still more that can be done, but collaboration with Paazl means that they have the foundation and freedom to help make every athlete better.