DPD plans to offer the new ‘Follow My Parcel’ service, offering a 15-minute delivery window, inGermany in the near future following its recent launch in the UK.
As the parcel sector’s first live tracking service, Follow My Parcel uses online mappingtechnology that enables customers to track the delivery driver via GPS on their way to the deliveryaddress, counting down the time to delivery to give a 15-minute delivery window. The service kickedoff in the UK last month with launch customer ASOS and will be available to other British customersfrom August 5.
As part of the new DPD service, customers will receive a text or email message on the day ofdelivery to inform them of their initial one-hour delivery timeslot, as they do with DPD’s existingPredict product. They will then be invited to live-track their delivery in real-time using thelatest GPS software and online mapping technology via web and mobile-friendly interfaces. As withDPD Predict, customers can, at any stage on the day of delivery, request for the parcel to bedelivered to a neighbour or rescheduled for a different day by using their smartphone.
“DPD is lifting service for parcel recipients to a whole new level setting new standards for theparcels industry,” said Boris Winkelmann, DPD Germany COO. “In the near future, we would also liketo offer such a service in Germany combining maximum transparency and flexibility with a minimaldelivery window – in the same way it is already possible in the UK.”
In 2011, DPD Germany already introduced a fixed delivery time window during which the parcel isdelivered. The current time frame ranges between one and three hours and will be reduced to onehour across Germany in 2014. In addition, DPD Germany offers numerous other options for privaterecipients to adapt parcel delivery to their needs such as delivery to a DPD parcel shop. Thecompany plans to increase the number of its parcel shops from currently more than 4,500 to 8,000nationwide by 2014.
