Premium express delivery company City Link has landed a contract worth around £1/4 million a year with the UK's leading supplier of rods, reels and other equipment for anglers.
From its base in Wishaw, Scotland, Daiwa Sports Ltd manufactures some of the finest quality fishing rods and poles in the world which are used by many champion anglers.
The company also acts as an agent for the Sundridge range of clothing and footwear for fishermen as well as for the Ian Gold range of products including rod rests, tripods and seat boxes.
With more than 700 retail customers across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, Daiwa was looking for a carrier that could reliably deliver consignments on time to shops that nowadays operate lean stock-holding policies.
Moreover it required a carrier that could protect the delicate and sometimes expensive equipment - carbon poles can cost up to £4,500 each and can be easily broken if dropped or carelessly handled.
City Link collects between 350 to 400 parcels a day for next day deliveries throughout the UK, including spare parts and the return of equipment sent in for maintenance or repair.
All consignments can be easily tracked by Daiwa's own internal sales team by using City Link's market-leading new service MyCityLInk that conveys near real-time information about the progress of parcels and is accessible from any computer with a connection to the internet. This enables Daiwa staff to pro-actively advise customers on the rare occasions when there is a problem.
Alex Laird, Warehouse Manager at Daiwa, said: "We have enjoyed extremely good levels of customer service since switching to City Link earlier this year - which has been a remarkable improvement.
"We have a turnover of £15 million and we are hoping to grow that to £20 million over the next couple of years. The only way we can do that is by having a reliable delivery company: if anything goes wrong with a delivery, it reflects on our own reputation.
"We thought long and hard before changing our carrier and had discussions with several other companies. We felt City Link was best placed to give us what we wanted. We feel that switching to City Link has been a very positive move for our company."
City Link's Motherwell Depot has worked closely with Daiwa to understand the needs of the business and suggest bespoke solutions to meet the requirements of Daiwa's key customers.
Duncan Faithfull, Sales and Marketing Director of City Link, said: "We are delighted to be working with Daiwa Sports and look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with them.
"City Link is committed to working in partnership with its customers to fully understand their business needs and provide the best solution.
"Our customers told us they wanted transparency of the delivery process and MyCityLink was the result - and it has been very well-received. MyCityLInk is truly a big step forward in the next day delivery sector.
"Customers need never again be kept in the dark about where their parcels are - they can track consignments themselves in real time wherever they are."