Haberler ve Duyurular
Aras Kargo’s CEO Utku Ayyarkın takes us through the highlights of 2021:
We provide customers with a brand-new delivery experience in a brand-new world, by investing in new technologies
Aras Kargo’s CEO Utku Ayyarkın said the company was rounding off 2021 with an above 30 percent growth, in keeping with its double-digit growth trend that has been going on for 5 years. In assessing 2021 and explaining their future goals, Ayyarkın said they had put their mark under a comprehensive transformative initiative that responds to changing customer expectations, developing a brand-new delivery experience in accordance with the new world order and it unique needs, on the back of a string of investments in technology and automation since 2016.
‘We designed a brand new cargo experience that chimes with the dynamics of the new world order’
Looking back upon 40 years of success, making deliveries to places all across Turkey via a network of 28 hubs, nearly 1000 branches, 16,000 employees and a fleet of over 5,000 vehicles, Aras Kargo has evolved from a service company to a technology company, helped by recent technology investments in recent years. Saying they were placing special emphasis on embracing the business models of the future, putting customer satisfaction and quality at the center, and acting swiftly in integrating new technologies into business processes, Utku Ayyarkın, CEO of Aras Kargo, looked back upon 2021 explaining their future goals.
Explaining that 2021 was a year when the business world focused on operational changes in line with new circumstances brought on by the pandemic, Ayyarkın said, "While the freight industry has literally been rushed off its feet due to the Covid outbreak, it finds itself at an important crossroads: digitalisation". In that sense, the industry had its first test with e-commerce discounts in the last quarter of 2019, prior to the pandemic. We were actually well prepared for that state of things, having seriously investing in our hubs and new technologies. At the time we thought, ’Well, this is all good with the investments and everything else that we are doing, but what are going to do with all this unutilized capacity at our hands?’ But with the pandemic, we unexpectedly came to use all this hitherto untapped capacity, as there was more than a hundred percent growth in the first year of the pandemic. While we carried an average of 500,000 cargos per day before the pandemic, there were days when we were carrying 2 million or more per day during the pandemic. In May 2021, we shipped to a record number of addresses, with 2 million deliveries in one day. We will have delivered to more than 200 million addresses by the end of the year. That is equivalent to delivering to the entire country more than twice over.’
‘We evolved from a service company to a technology company’
Emphasizing that they were one of the most important players in the industry both in terms of their pioneering technological investments in line with changing consumer expectations and in terms of hourly processing capacity, Utku Ayyarkın said, "We have a brand new generation that learns about technology from an early age, which also means new consumption habits, an increased habit of online shopping boosted even further by the pandemic, a global market and a whole new world order where borders no longer exist when it comes to trade.
In our plans for the future, we have focused on providing quality service that is compatible with this new world order where artificial intelligence, Big Data, technological advances and customization, a rising trend, are at the forefront. A credit to our perspicaciousness, we were already well-prepared for this new state of things, starting with the redesigning of our work processes five years ago already. Placing quality at the center with our end-to-end investments in technology, we aimed at making our work processes more agile, while making customers’ lives easier. In this process, where we transformed from a service company to a technology company, we aligned all aspects of our business, such as distribution and delivery, operation and customer experience, with changing consumer expectations.’
‘We are the most important player in the sector using automated processes’
Emphasizing that the global pandemic increased the appetite for e-commerce, causing the rise of a new business model on the back of changing consumer habits, Ayyarkın said, ‘We are now visiting many more addresses and carrying smaller packages. In order to better manage the volume of small package shipments between 1-5 deci, we invested in conveying systems capable of sorting out small packages . This year, we increased our small package sorters to 15 and reached almost the level of 300,000 pieces in our hourly production capacity. We also increased our operational capacity in order to better manage the increasing transaction volume with our 46 direct distribution warehouses that we put into operation during this period. With investments in our hubs since 2016, we tripled our hourly item processing capacity. ‘With these investments, we became the most important player in the sector using automated processes.’ We will continue these investments in different cities of Anatolia in the upcoming period.’
7/24 delivery with Aras Burası Parcel Lockers
Stating that the changing consumer habits created the need for delivery points that can be an alternative to the direct delivery model, Ayyarkın said, ‘Our customers now want to be able to choose how and where to pick their shipment, independently of time and place. In order to respond to this need, we launched the Aras Burası pop-up stores and parcel lockers.. We are positioning our delivery points at locations that allow customers the quickest access to their shipments. We now have 1,000 of these delivery points, something we achieved in a very short time. This service allows you to pick your delivery from the closest spop-up store point or from parcel lockers outside of working hours, 7 days and 24 hours. Customers can now get their deliveries using the app or via self-service channels.’
‘TRY 1 billion TL investment in 5 years’
Explaining their future goals, Ayyarkın said, ‘In 2022, we will continue with our investments to improve overall customer experience, in line with their changing expectations, and by focusing on quality. We have a total investment target of TRY 1 billion in the next 5 years. We aim to take our quality to a higher level with investments in integration, route optimization and integrated management systems. We plan a unique customer experience with improvements in customer communication, customer convenience, and customer relations management. We will maintain our pioneering and innovative position in the sector with additional investments in our hubs and IT infrastructure. We aim to consolidate our market leadership with these new projects. On the other hand, we will continue to do the good work we have been doing for sustainability, from a holistic perspective. We aim to expand the scope of work we do to contribute to the environment, society and economy. By signing the UN Global Compact in 2021, we placed our sustainability goals on a firmer basis, making universal commitments.’
Aras Kargo’s CEO Utku Ayyarkın said the company was rounding off 2021 with an above 30 percent growth, in keeping with its double-digit growth trend that has been going on for 5 years. In assessing 2021 and explaining their future goals, Ayyarkın said they had put their mark under a comprehensive transformative initiative that responds to changing customer expectations, developing a brand-new delivery experience in accordance with the new world order and it unique needs, on the back of a string of investments in technology and automation since 2016.
‘We designed a brand new cargo experience that chimes with the dynamics of the new world order’
Looking back upon 40 years of success, making deliveries to places all across Turkey via a network of 28 hubs, nearly 1000 branches, 16,000 employees and a fleet of over 5,000 vehicles, Aras Kargo has evolved from a service company to a technology company, helped by recent technology investments in recent years. Saying they were placing special emphasis on embracing the business models of the future, putting customer satisfaction and quality at the center, and acting swiftly in integrating new technologies into business processes, Utku Ayyarkın, CEO of Aras Kargo, looked back upon 2021 explaining their future goals.
Explaining that 2021 was a year when the business world focused on operational changes in line with new circumstances brought on by the pandemic, Ayyarkın said, "While the freight industry has literally been rushed off its feet due to the Covid outbreak, it finds itself at an important crossroads: digitalisation". In that sense, the industry had its first test with e-commerce discounts in the last quarter of 2019, prior to the pandemic. We were actually well prepared for that state of things, having seriously investing in our hubs and new technologies. At the time we thought, ’Well, this is all good with the investments and everything else that we are doing, but what are going to do with all this unutilized capacity at our hands?’ But with the pandemic, we unexpectedly came to use all this hitherto untapped capacity, as there was more than a hundred percent growth in the first year of the pandemic. While we carried an average of 500,000 cargos per day before the pandemic, there were days when we were carrying 2 million or more per day during the pandemic. In May 2021, we shipped to a record number of addresses, with 2 million deliveries in one day. We will have delivered to more than 200 million addresses by the end of the year. That is equivalent to delivering to the entire country more than twice over.’
‘We evolved from a service company to a technology company’
Emphasizing that they were one of the most important players in the industry both in terms of their pioneering technological investments in line with changing consumer expectations and in terms of hourly processing capacity, Utku Ayyarkın said, "We have a brand new generation that learns about technology from an early age, which also means new consumption habits, an increased habit of online shopping boosted even further by the pandemic, a global market and a whole new world order where borders no longer exist when it comes to trade.
In our plans for the future, we have focused on providing quality service that is compatible with this new world order where artificial intelligence, Big Data, technological advances and customization, a rising trend, are at the forefront. A credit to our perspicaciousness, we were already well-prepared for this new state of things, starting with the redesigning of our work processes five years ago already. Placing quality at the center with our end-to-end investments in technology, we aimed at making our work processes more agile, while making customers’ lives easier. In this process, where we transformed from a service company to a technology company, we aligned all aspects of our business, such as distribution and delivery, operation and customer experience, with changing consumer expectations.’
‘We are the most important player in the sector using automated processes’
Emphasizing that the global pandemic increased the appetite for e-commerce, causing the rise of a new business model on the back of changing consumer habits, Ayyarkın said, ‘We are now visiting many more addresses and carrying smaller packages. In order to better manage the volume of small package shipments between 1-5 deci, we invested in conveying systems capable of sorting out small packages . This year, we increased our small package sorters to 15 and reached almost the level of 300,000 pieces in our hourly production capacity. We also increased our operational capacity in order to better manage the increasing transaction volume with our 46 direct distribution warehouses that we put into operation during this period. With investments in our hubs since 2016, we tripled our hourly item processing capacity. ‘With these investments, we became the most important player in the sector using automated processes.’ We will continue these investments in different cities of Anatolia in the upcoming period.’
7/24 delivery with Aras Burası Parcel Lockers
Stating that the changing consumer habits created the need for delivery points that can be an alternative to the direct delivery model, Ayyarkın said, ‘Our customers now want to be able to choose how and where to pick their shipment, independently of time and place. In order to respond to this need, we launched the Aras Burası pop-up stores and parcel lockers.. We are positioning our delivery points at locations that allow customers the quickest access to their shipments. We now have 1,000 of these delivery points, something we achieved in a very short time. This service allows you to pick your delivery from the closest spop-up store point or from parcel lockers outside of working hours, 7 days and 24 hours. Customers can now get their deliveries using the app or via self-service channels.’
‘TRY 1 billion TL investment in 5 years’
Explaining their future goals, Ayyarkın said, ‘In 2022, we will continue with our investments to improve overall customer experience, in line with their changing expectations, and by focusing on quality. We have a total investment target of TRY 1 billion in the next 5 years. We aim to take our quality to a higher level with investments in integration, route optimization and integrated management systems. We plan a unique customer experience with improvements in customer communication, customer convenience, and customer relations management. We will maintain our pioneering and innovative position in the sector with additional investments in our hubs and IT infrastructure. We aim to consolidate our market leadership with these new projects. On the other hand, we will continue to do the good work we have been doing for sustainability, from a holistic perspective. We aim to expand the scope of work we do to contribute to the environment, society and economy. By signing the UN Global Compact in 2021, we placed our sustainability goals on a firmer basis, making universal commitments.’