Belgian postal operator bpost today launched online auctions with falling product prices topromote its delivery services and has also extended its bulk home delivery trials at an agreed time
to benefit from e-commerce growth.The ‘live webshop’ (www.livewebshop.be), which will run only for the next sixworking days until 28 November, offers a variety of single, popular items such as computers,cameras and coffee machines, and will be “open” from 12:00-14:00 and from 18:00-21:00.
In contrast to auction-style online marketplaces such as eBay, where prices rise, bpost willoffer products at falling prices. Shoppers can monitor product prices live on the website anddecide whether and when to buy an item. Quick buyers will thus secure goods at higher prices whileslower buyers will be able to purchase at lower prices but risk missing out completely if they waittoo long.
Payment is made in a 100% secure way via the shop website with the buyer choosing the preferabledelivery method. The parcels are then delivered free of charge.
Among the available delivery methods, consumers can choose for the parcel to be delivered by oneof the 11,000 bpost delivery staff to their homes or workplace or get it delivered to one of the1,100 Point Poste offices across Belgium. Customers wishing even more flexibility may also opt forthe delivery to the automated back parcel terminals operating 24/7.
Meanwhile, bpost has extended its first successful tests for bulk home deliveries at agreedtimes to Walloon Brabant, a province of Wallonia in southern Belgium, covering 19 communes. Inspring this year, deliveries were piloted in the towns of Sint-Niklaas, Grammont and Turnhout.
Under the scheme, bpost has been delivering all kinds of products in one single bulk delivery.These could include goods from supermarkets or local shops, large stores or online retailers. Touse the service, customers need to contact bpost by phone or via internet to schedule the deliverytime for their purchases ordered with one or several stores or via e-commerce sites.
Following the positive test results, bpost has decided to further extend the service. InSint-Niklaas and Walloon Brabant, bpost aims to determine through a first test whether consumersare interested in the possibility of ordering bread, fruits and meat by 1 pm and get it deliveredthe same day from 5pm onwards to their homes. They can order the desired items via www.bpostsurrendezvous.be. Consumers can choosebetween several time windows for delivery including 17-19 pm, 18-20 pm, 19-21 pm and on Saturdayuntil 1 pm.
During the test, the price for the service amounts to €39.95 per month for one deliveryappointment per week to be paid by the end of the month. If a customer doesn’t order anythingduring a particular week, he won’t be charged anything, either.
The first test results revealed that consumers, businessmen and partners are satisfied with theservice as part of which bpost delivers the ordered goods and parcels and takes back some items, ifrequested, such as garbage, laundry for ironing or things to be repaired.
Customers appreciate being able to define for themselves the time of delivery and to pay bycredit card upon delivery. In each test area, hundreds of customers have meanwhile already receivedmore than 1,000 orders in total with two orders per single delivery on average. 80% of ordersconstitute of fresh or frozen products. The five most popular categories include the supermarket,fruits and vegetables, butchery and delicacy items, bakery products and beverages.
In Sint-Niklaas, bpost launched a digital platform “Nuvonet” in collaboration with municipalauthorities enabling customers to make purchases online from around 26 local retailers which bpostthen delivers to homes along with other packages or orders. The service is now available for allresidents of Sint-Niklaas and sub-communes. The offering has been recently extended with asupermarket, a pharmacy, an ironing service, a catering service and some additional localshops.
In Turnhout, the tests mainly target people with reduced or zero mobility such as elderlypersons or patients in rehabilitation, for example. This test is conducted in collaboration withthe city of Turnhout and 9 local care facilities. At Grammont, bpost is delivering hot meals totheir customers, in collaboration with Compass Group and is now in negotiations with its partnersregarding the extension of the test.
