DPD has bundled all its online solutions for parcel shippers and developers under a singleportal ‘eSolutions’ and signed a contract with Germany’s largest online furniture retailer Home24
to deliver its parcel-sized goods with DPD’s Predict service.With eSolutions, customers and developers can access the tools and IT systems they require in afew mouse clicks. These include DPD Web Parcel, the online shipping tools MyDPD Business (foroccasional shippers) and MyDPD Pro (for consignors with regular parcel volumes), Parcel Navigator,which is aimed primarily at consignees, and the Returns Portal.
As part of its eSolutions, DPD also created a developer portal, available to all developers ofsoftware applications and DPD partners who need access to the parcel service provider’sdocumentations and test systems, in addition to numerous web services and interfaces.
“The codes and interfaces provided by us also enable external developers to link up with us andintegrate DPD’s online services in their own applications environment”, Michael Knaupe, DirectorDomestic B2C Products & Services at DPD, said. “In this respect, our specialists as well as theDPD developer community are ready to provide external programmers with concrete support. We areconvinced that opening up our IT systems to external developers will also provide importantstimulus for the ongoing development of our own systems.”
Apart from the portal solutions and the developer platform, several other client solutions arealso available to shippers. In addition to DELISprint, the programme for generating parcel labelsfor large shipping volumes, users now also have for the first time the possibility to print outtheir label via the flexible cloud-based solution DPD Cloud Print. It is a Windows applicationwhich enables uncomplicated management of the user’s shipping history or an option for importingaddresses, in addition to recording individual shipping orders.
A further important component of eSolutions is represented by a range of partner solutions.These enable, above all, e-shops to integrate DPD services quickly and simply into their ownenvironment enhancing their online shop with a shipping option and thus making it even moreattractive. Among other services, shop operators will find plug-ins for the flexible shop softwareGambio and the Magento e-commerce platform. Many further plug-ins are currently being developed orare already available, DPD stressed.
Separately, DPD signed a multi-year agreement with the German furniture retailer Home 24 todeliver smaller furniture articles or furnishing accessories via its newly-upgraded Predict servicewhich shows recipients in real time on an online map where their parcel is at any given time andwhen it will probably be delivered. During the delivery process, the predicted time window isgradually reduced to only 30 minutes. Almost right up to the actual delivery itself, consignees canstill change the day of delivery or re-direct the parcel, for example to their place of work, to aDPD ParcelShop or to a specific neighbour.
Home24 is Europe’s largest online furniture retailer. With more than 100,000 products from 350manufacturers, Home24 offers its customers a unique selection of furniture, lamps and furnishingaccessories. The Berlin-based company currently has a workforce of more than 300 staff. BeyondGermany, it also operates in France, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium providingits customers with free home delivery of all products, regardless of their weight or size.
“For us, this cooperation with DPD is an important step when it comes to providing our customerswith an even better service. Thanks to the short delivery-time window and the possibility ofchanging the place and time of delivery right up to 5 minutes before the actual delivery itself,buying furniture online has now become even simpler for our customers. We’re delighted that we arethe first online furniture retailer to be able to offer this flexible and transparent deliveryexperience”, Domenico Cipolla, CEO of Home24, said.
“We are very pleased that we have been able to impress such an innovative company as Home24 withour new Predict service. We’re convinced that for Home24 customers the purchasing experience willnow become even more convenient and satisfying”, Andreas Reß, Managing Director of DPDVertriebsgesellschaft (sales company), added.
The two companies are planning a long-term partnership, with their initial agreement covering aperiod of three years. Apart from Germany, Home24 and DPD are already working together on threefurther European markets.
In Germany, DPD is the market leader in national and international B2B parcel services and isactively expanding its position on the B2C market. It has 75 depots and more than 5,000 DPD parcelshops nationwide, with a workforce of 7,500 and more than 8,000 vehicles deployed in B2B and B2Cparcel shipping operations.
