Travis Perkins is the UK’s largest supplier of building materials to the construction industry. The company has over 500 branches across the UK, and serves trade professionals and self-builders across the nation. They have partnered with Experian since 2010, using address validation and location technology to support business operations whilst safeguarding customer experience.
The situation
Address data is critical to Travis Perkins’ business model. The company offers a multi-channel shopping experience, with trade customers and consumers able to browse and shop in store and online, plus check stock availability at local stores. Due to the bulky, heavy nature of construction goods, being able to offer an efficient, reliable delivery service is crucial.
Experian technology was onboarded in 2010 across the point of sale system, and implemented into the digital offering as this went live in later years. Thanks to our market leading address validation solution, Travis Perkins can trust that address data is accurate, correctly formatted and validated as deliverable: keeping customers happy and building projects on schedule.
Challenges
Inconsistent address format - A pre-ecommerce legacy of manual data entry at point of purchase had created a database with variable address formats and data errors
Difficulty finding nearest branch - Some customers need to quickly source building materials, and locate the nearest branch with available stock to prevent wasted time
Supplier management - Travis Perkins needed to ensure they held accurate address data for their own suppliers to smooth the invoicing process and delivery of goods
Streamlining checkout process – the business recognized the need to ensure the transaction process was frictionless for customers without compromising the quality of address data captured
Solution
Experian Address Validation, powered by market-leading address and location data, is integrated at every customer touchpoint: in-store, online, and in-app.
Multiple ways of searching for an address are used to meet system and customer needs.
- Autocomplete search is used online for rapid address capture, with as little as 3 keystrokes needed to begin returning address suggestions
- In-store, postcode-based searching is used to capture, correct, and validate addresses.
The solution reduces data entry time by up to 80% and, in split seconds, validates that an address is deliverable and correctly formatted.
This data then powers the logistics operation. With the reassurance that all addresses have been validated as deliverable against Royal Mail’s datasets, delivery routes can be planned confidently and meet customer expectations.
Location technology is paired with address data to support store finder capabilities to allow customers to check stock levels at local stores. Using the validated post code and Experian’s location intelligence, local stores can be identified and mapped back to the customer, with stock availability displayed to allow customers to quickly and easily identify the nearest store with the materials they need.
