DPD is enhancing its services with a new delivery ‘time-window’ in Germany and more flexiblepick-up scheduling in the UK.
In Germany, DPD has launched a new notification service for customers providing them with atime window of 2-6 hours on the day of delivery. This “FlexDelivery” follows the similar “Predict”service launched by DPD UK in February 2010 which offers a predicted one-hour delivery window.
In addition to day-definite delivery, DPD Germany now also informs its customers proactivelyabout the time window on the delivery date nationwide and free of charge. For example, customersordering a product at an online shop are notified via SMS or e-mail about the planned delivery ifthe retailer is a DPD customer. This includes the possibility to postpone the announced appointmentto one of the three consecutive working days. On the day of the delivery, they are then informedabout the delivery time-window of the parcel which is between two and six hours.
The data for the time window are based on the experience from the tour planning with asuccess probability of 95 per cent. The time window is expected to be reduced to two hours maximumfairly soon, DPD stressed.
“At a time when it is all about speed and efficiency, the accuracy of parcel delivery is anessential factor for customer satisfaction,” DPD CEO Arnold Schroven said. “Therefore, many onlineretailers in Germany use our FlexDelivery to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.” Inaddition, the new service simplifies working processes for shippers with the number of returns andcomplaints going down considerably, the company added.
If a parcel fails to be delivered despite notification, the recipient can place a depositpermit online free of charge and order a new delivery on the desired day with the option of analternative delivery address or pick-up at a parcel shop.
In Britain, DPD has already won new customers since launching its Predict product in February2010 with a one-hour delivery window via interactive email and SMS notification messages.
From the second quarter of next year, DPD UK and franchise organisation Interlink Express areset to offer interactive email notification messages for parcel collections including the option toreschedule times and dates, following the success of these options for parcel deliveries.
Dwain McDonald, CEO of parent company Geopost UK, told last week’s The Future of UK PostalServices conference that Interlink Express has seen an 8.8 per cent improvement in first-timedelivery success with its Predict product. Prior to the launch of this product, 12 per cent ofattempted deliveries were unsuccessful first time.
“We realised the problem was that no one knew when the parcel was coming,” he said. Over thelast 12 months, DPD’s success rates for meeting its estimated time of arrival windows was more than97 per cent on 42 million stops.
The two parcel companies both re-launched their websites last month, in part to provide abetter interface for smartphones, which are increasingly being used by customers to manage orders.McDonald said that in the first week after relaunch, DPD UK’s new website was used by 26,000 uniquecustomers to track around 38,000 parcels, of whom 2,100 re-arranged deliveries online from callingcard notifications, which now also include QR Codes, and 685 re-arranged deliveries from emailnotifications.
McDonald said there would be a further enhancement to the delivery notification process fromthe first quarter of 2012, when the notification message will tell the customer the name of theirdriver – an additional step in the process of trying to make the delivery experience more personalfor the customer.
