Stord, the Cloud Supply Chain leader, today announced Stord Parcel, a carrier-agnostic last-mile delivery solution with advanced modeling to automatically choose the most efficient and cost-effective carrier and service level that meets the expected delivery date for all packages. 

Too many brands spend significant time and resources managing multiple carrier relationships and implementing rules-based engines to rate shop and adhere to carrier delivery estimates. Still, the result is not optimal—brands leave money on the table when last-mile shipping is based on carrier delivery guidelines and simple rate shopping instead of real-time data. 

But with Stord, DTC and omnichannel brands can access deeply discounted negotiated carrier rates from a network of international, national, and regional carriers all through one agnostic partner, and benefit from advanced modeling and optimization that automatically identifies the right carrier service level for each order based on billions of historical data points. This way, brands can stop spending on a higher service level than is actually needed while still meeting customer expectations for fast delivery. 

With Stord Parcel, brands can optimize the delivery service level for each package based on customer expectations, historical delivery performance, distance from the origin address to the destination, and, of course, cost. Customers have saved 12-15% on parcel spend, without sacrificing speed or quality. In addition to these technology-driven savings, customers have seen even more cost reductions in the range of 5-12% when adding additional fulfillment locations with Stord. For many customers, these optimizations result in reducing spend by $1-2 per shipment, while meeting or exceeding consumer delivery expectations. 

For example, by evaluating every package's unique characteristics in real-time along with analyzing actual delivery performance, Stord Parcel often can use an even less expensive shipping method for a package that still is within a highly-efficient transit and delivery route, knowing that it will be delivered within the required delivery promise window despite the service level having a longer delivery estimate.

"Today, most brands set up simple rules for service level selection based on standard carrier guidelines, which means they often opt for a more expensive service level to ensure on-time delivery," said Sean Henry, CEO and co-founder of Stord. "With Stord Parcel, brand operators can feel confident that their parcel program is truly optimized based on real, historical performance data rather than broad guidelines."

Stord Parcel joins an extensive suite of port-to-porch logistics and fulfillment offerings powered by Stord. Now brands can partner with Stord to ensure a seamless, optimized, and cost-effective delivery experience for each and every customer from the warehouse to their porch. Stord Parcel rolls out in Q4 2022 and Q1 2023.

This year, Stord has significantly expanded its physical offerings, including additional port-to-porch logistics capabilities, temperature-controlled logistics in collaboration with Fresh Del Monte, and increased network capacity. Coupled with its new Stord One Commerce software that helps brands connect, orchestrate, and optimize their entire supply chains, Stord brands are well-equipped to make their supply chain a competitive advantage. To learn more about Stord's Cloud Supply Chain approach, visit stord.com.