David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

Theo Paphitis and Deborah Meaden invested in an eco-friendly haulage company called JPM Eco Logistics Ltd on last night's Dragon's Den episode.

Logistics is what I have a degree in so this was certainly an interesting pitch. But was it a smart move by Theo and Deborah?

Nope, and I'll tell you why.
 
98% Recycled Trucks

The pair pitching mentioned that the 98% recycled truck comes from Scania. I couldn't find anything on their website that backs this up, although I did find that most of a truck can be dismantled and recycled at the end of it's life.

I would love for someone to provide a link to information about the 98% recycled truck (apparently 100% next year) as I am genuinely interested in this offering.

Anyhow, they key point here is that Eddie Stobart can now go to Scania and say "we want a fleet of 98% recycled trucks". A unique selling point for JPM has been lost.

Furthermore, eagle eyed spotters will notice that the only truck image used on their website is of a Volvo:



This raises two questions: a) do they use Recycled Scanias or was this an idea and it fell through? and b) if they do use Scanias, why didn't the web designer do a bit more research? Here's a couple of pics to show the difference:


(Scania on the left, Volvo on the right)

Also, I've driven both a Scania and Volvo and there's a difference there too!

Bio-Diesel

Their website links to Bioflo which appears to be the wholesaler of their biofuel. So, there goes another USP as our Eddie can now buy in bulk (and probably negotiate a discount too).

Just Think Of The Name!

"JPM Eco Logistics Ltd" is not that great a name. The domain names ecologistics.co.uk and ecologistics.com were taken so it's understandable why they needed to expand a little but guess what I typed into Google to find them? "Eco logistics".

Summary

The dragon's aren't new to haulage. In the previous series, they invested in Igloo Thermo, a chilled goods courier. So it was no surprise that they invested in JPM.

The only problem with JPM is that it has two genuine unique selling points: recycled trucks that are operated on bio-diesel. But they are open about where they get their trucks and fuel from. So what's to stop the likes of Eddie Stobart, Wincanton, Innovate, etc. from doing exactly the same. The difference with those is that as they are significantly larger, they can attract the bigger contracts.

Eco friendly haulage is certainly a great move but the Dragon's should have given this one a thought. Never mind though, it's their money and hopefully they'll see a return. Hopefully the "where are they now" programme will be on soon!