Member Article

Manchester parcel delivery entrepreneur sees 69% increase in gross profit

Manchester-based My Parcel Delivery was born out of frustration at the way things were.

Founder and managing director David Grimes said that the idea came to him while he was running another business and having to spend 1-2 hours a day in post office queues.

He realised that there was a gap in the market for a parcel delivery service that collected small volumes from SMEs at a reasonable price.

David set up My Parcel Delivery in June 2010 with a government backed loan of £60k and £60-80k from his previous business.

Once launched he raised extra investment via Angel funding which meant that as well as a cash injection he had the “invaluable” help of a mentor.

In December 2013 the company raised a further £1.3 million in funding that was used to invest in recruitment, IT infrastructure and marketing.

The company has reported impressive growth in the last quarter of 2014, with a 69% increase in gross profit and 58% rise in revenues.

The website also saw a 47% increase in deliveries booked through its online platform, compared to Q4 the previous year.

The number of employees grew from 12 to 30 throughout 2014, and the company plan on growing further with more job creation as it expands.

New business customers also grew by 83% in the last quarter, as more and more ecommerce companies are utilising the innovative website for bulk shipping.

Managing director of My Parcel Delivery, David Grimes, told Bdaily: “I chose to set up in Manchester because of its amazing buzz, there are lots of upcoming businesses and I decided Manchester was the best place to be.

“Being in Manchester helps with recruitment and the talent pool is a close 2nd to London particularly for technology roles.

“Recruitment is probably the biggest challenge I face, it took over 6 months to get my senior management team in place.

“I’d like people to think ‘these guys are going to make a difference’ because we are a fresh dynamic business.

“We keep things simple and we strive for continuing improvement.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .