Amazon has stepped its delivery services in the UK with a ‘click and collect’ service through a newindependent parcel shop network being launched by a major news media distribution group, including
a same-day pick-up service for the first time.The e-commerce giant, which already has an expanding network of parcel lockers and its owndelivery couriers in the UK, has teamed up with Smiths News to launch the service at more than 500independent newsagents and convenience stores which will carry the new ‘Pass My Parcel’ branding.This network is due to expand to 1,000 parcel shops by later this autumn.
Smiths News, a division of Connect Group Plc, will deliver Amazon parcels twice daily to thePass My Parcel network stores from its 12 distribution centres located in different regions of theUK, thus making the same-day service possible.
Amazon said that its customers will be able to order goods online up to 11.45 for same-daycollection from 16.00 onwards. Customers are notified via e-mail when their order is available andthey can collect their parcel up to 23.59, depending on the store’s closing time.
“This is our fastest pick-up service yet,” said Christopher North, Managing Director ofAmazon.co.uk Ltd. “We know that Prime customers love fast delivery and the convenience to pick uptheir order at a time and place that suits them best. This new service brings together both ofthose great benefits.”
In addition to Same-Day collection, Amazon’s UK customers also have the option of ExpressMorning collection with orders placed up to 19.45 being available for guaranteed collection thenext morning. Their parcel will be delivered from 06.30 and no later than 09.00 depending on thestore opening time. Standard delivery is also available.
All of these collection options are free of charge for Amazon Prime customers until the endof the year. Once the collection option is chosen and the order is placed, a code is e-mailed tothe customer and is simply presented at the store, Amazon explained.
Under its Pick-Up Location programme, Amazon now offers more than 6,000 collection locationsin the UK, including the new ‘Pass my Parcel’ stores, the CollectPlus network of some 5,500 localshops and Amazon Lockers. Deliveries made to Amazon Lockers nationally have more than doubled inthe last year, according to the company.
“Our intention is to keep rapidly adding to the many thousands of existing pick-up locationsto ensure that customers all over the UK are provided with as much choice as possible when it comesto the delivery of their Amazon order,” North said. Nevertheless, the bulk of Amazon orderscontinue to be delivered directly to residential addresses, including with evening and Sundaydeliveries, observers noted.
Mark Cashmore, CEO of Connect Group Plc commented: “We are delighted to be working withAmazon at the launch of Pass My Parcel. Smiths News shares the same passion for customer serviceand because we visit thousands of local retailers every day, we are uniquely placed to deliver atwice daily pick up service that is second to none in speed and convenience.”
Explaining how the Pass My Parcel service will work, Connect Group said Smiths News “willleverage its existing distribution and logistics expertise and provide a market-leading propositionunlike any other offering in the parcel market today”. The innovative twice-daily distributionmodel (daily only on Sundays) will distribute parcels to participating independent retail outlets,seven days a week, 364 days a year. This premium service would thus allow Amazon to providedeliveries to its customers within 12 hours after placing an order, across the same day and nextday delivery time frames.
Jonathan Bunting, Managing Director, Connect News & Media said: “We have worked closelywith Amazon to create Pass My Parcel, and we are excited about the future potential of thisbusiness. We believe that Pass My Parcel will also help our retail customers grow their ownbusiness by offering an important new service to the communities they serve.”
Smiths News is the UK’s largest news wholesaling business with an approximate 55 per centmarket share, distributing newspapers and magazines to some 30,000 customers, including largegeneral retailers and small independent newsagents.
Separately, Amazon also announced it will create 1,000 new permanent jobs in the comingmonths at its eight large regional fulfilment centres across the UK where some 6,000 permanentstaff are currently employed. Staff work four 10-hour shifts per week with three days off, with anaverage hourly wage of £7.39 for new permanent staff, the company said.
Meanwhile, in the USA the company will expand its grocery service Amazon Fresh to New YorkCity’s Brooklyn district from today (October 17) onwards. The service, which claims to offer morethan 500,000 products, is currently offered in Seattle and parts of California, with free deliveryfor orders worth more than $35.
In addition, Amazon plans to take on 80,000 seasonal staff at its US fulfilment and sortingcentres for the forthcoming peak season to cope with increased demand, and expects to convertthousands of these seasonal jobs into full-time jobs.
“So far this year, we have converted more than 10,000 seasonal employees in the U.S. intoregular, full-time roles and we’re looking forward to converting thousands more across our growingnetwork of fulfillment and sortation centers after this holiday season,” said Mike Roth, Amazon’svice president of North America operations.
Amazon now has more than 50 fulfilment centres in the U.S. and will have more than 15sortation centres by the end of 2014. Amazon said the new network of sortation centres “is fuellinga range of innovations like Sunday delivery, later cut-off ordering times for customers and theability to control packages deeper into the delivery process.”
