Dutch mail operator PostNL has opened a new parcels depot in Hengelo, in the east of TheNetherlands, as part of a €240 million investment in 18 new depots to modernise and expand its
Dutch infrastructure, and has also launched a new online service for verifying customeridentities.PostNL said the new depot would create 250 jobs in the region to cope with a sharp increase involumes, boosted by the strong growth in e-commerce in recent years. It is the fifth depot to openas part of the new logistics infrastructure being set up by PostNL’s parcel division. Other newsites in the Netherlands have been recently opened in Den Bosch, Utrecht, Elst and Waddinxveen.
As part of the company’s modernisation efforts, the 18 depots where both sorting anddistribution will take place replace the four current sorting centres and 37 distribution centres,changes intended to streamline operations through handling all essential processes at the samesite.
“The aim is to have all new sites in operation by 2015, providing PostNL with a scalablelogistics network that can handle 140 million parcels,” PostNL said.
In line with growing e-commerce, PostNL has introduced a new service for commercial clientscalled “online customer acceptance” to verify the identity of their customers, in addition to thecredit management service the company launched last year. This means that all billing services arenow available via a single portal, including customer acceptance, billing and creditmanagement.
“Customers increasingly wish to purchase items on account. Most companies are happy to make thatpossible because it makes ordering online a lot more attractive,” PostNL explained.
PostNL’s new online customer acceptance service operates online and in real time, checking thename and address and whether the customer has been involved in a bankruptcy. The company can thendecide whether or not to allow the customer to purchase items on account.
Kees van den Heuvel, director of Billing & Document Solutions at PostNL, said: “Onlinecustomer acceptance is a nice addition to our credit management chain. Commercial customersincreasingly wish to have their whole credit management dealt with within a single chain and by asingle party. The integrated service makes things clearer and cheaper for them.”
