Spring 2006

A total of 850 vehicles in the fleet of Homebuy, a specialist electrical goods and furniture retailer, are being equipped with satellite-based tracking and navigation technology from Masternaut in a contract costing over £1 million.

Homebuy was launched in 1995, and operates on an unusual business model in which customers buy goods via a coin meter payment system. It supplies a range of products including televisions, DVD recorders, washing machines and sofas.

Its fleet includes sales, service and home delivery vehicles, all of which are being equipped with the telematics system. Among expected benefits, the company cites improvements in security, control over fleet operations, efficiency and service. It adds that it is already seeing reductions in insurance premiums.

Features of the system include tracking, mobile communications and in-vehicle PDA-based navigation, plus a job despatch and collections management system. Engineers receive jobs and report completions using on-screen PDA forms, while cash collection staff are also being issued with portable receipt printers linked wirelessly by Bluetooth to the PDA.

In-vehicle navigation is said to be proving especially popular with sales and service staff, allowing easy guidance to customer homes. Back at the office, managers can instantly allocate the nearest resource to a call-out and plan journeys on the basis of actual routes driven.

According to Mark Fogarty, Homebuy's group fleet manager: "By simply logging on to the Web, we immediately have a complete picture of everything going on, twenty-four hours a day. It's a great management tool."