DPD is enhancing its B2C services in Germany by offering consumers new options to choose the dayand time to have their parcel delivered at home.
Online retailers using DPD as their delivery partner can send customers an SMS or e-mail the daybefore their parcel is due to be delivered. The recipient can either confirm the planned deliverydate or postpone it to one of the following three days.
The parcels company said it has successfully tested this flexible delivery option and will nowroll it out across Germany. The move follows the service’s successful launch in Britain lastyear.
“This is free for consumers,” said DPD CEO Arnold Schroven. “We are offering this interactivedelivery confirmation as an additional service for distance-sellers who put value on quality.”
The confirmed delivery date was a win-win for all parties as it improved the chances of asuccessful home delivery and thus increased customer satisfaction, and also optimised processes forshippers by reducing returns and complaints, DPD pointed out. The new option is a response to thedifficulty of making home deliveries to working people, the firm said.
DPD plans to go one step further in the third quarter of this year by individualising parceldelivery even more. The aim is to give recipients a timeframe of 2-6 hours within which theirparcels will be delivered, depending on whether they live in urban or rural areas. “Our aim is togive consumers a delivery timeframe of two hours at the most by 2012,” Schrovenexplained.
If the delivery is not successful, the recipient can use the “New Delivery” website to fix afree new delivery time, an alternative delivery address or collection from a parcel-shop.
Schroven said he believed the two services would set new standards for home deliveries inGermany and meet the expectations of online traders who wanted to offer customers positive ‘shopping experiences’ on the internet.
DPD, the German market leader for B2B deliveries, claims to be Germany’s third-largest providerof B2C deliveries which now account for well above 20% of its parcel volumes.
In the UK, DPD has successfully provided a similar service under the name DPD Predict sinceearly 2010. This offers a one-hour time-window for deliveries. The company invested £2 million indeveloping the technology for the service. In June 2010, John Acton, executive vice presidentGeoPost, said the service would be rolled out across Europe with time-frames of 2-3 hours in linewith local needs.
