Spanish postal group Correos has installed the first five ‘CityPaq’ parcel terminals in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, as part of its e-commerce growth strategy and following the launch of the e-commerce platform Comandia and the HomePaq parcel delivery service.
At the end of last year, Correos signed a contract with the Catalan regional rail operator FGC for the installation of the self-service parcel machines, supplied by Austria’s KEBA, to enable passengers and consumers to use the terminals, each with 80 compartments of different sizes, during station opening hours, seven days a week.
Four terminals have now been set up in the city of Barcelona in Plaza España, Plaza Catalunya, Provença y Sarrià and another one in the city of Sant Cugat del Vallès, part of Barcelona province.
Correos plans to install a total of 60 parcel terminals at diverse locations in Madrid and other Spanish cities, including metro stations, service stations and other similar public spaces this year. For its part, KEBA said earlier that the sale of 60 ‘KePol’ machines, to be operated under the CityPaq name, will mark its market entry in Spain, building on its existing locations in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and France.
Correos said there are two possibilities to order a delivery to a CityPaq terminal. The first one is to choose the service on a website of the participating e-retailer which has joined the project. Some 20 online shops now use the e-commerce platforms Magento, Prestashop or Comandia where CityPaq appears as an additional option for the user. The second one is designed for online businesses that are not yet integrated. Via ‘Direct Delivery Mode’, registered users can ship their orders bought at any online shop in the European Union to CityPaq by just indicating the delivery code and address. They can then track their parcels via www.correospaq.es.
Correos said that with the installation of the terminals, it is taking a further step towards its goal to become the best service provider of physical, digital communication and parcel services on the Spanish market, as outlined in its “Action Plan 100-300-1.500”, a roadmap designed to transform the public postal company. In moving towards diversification, e-commerce plays a strategic role for Correos, with its 25% growth (compared to 2014) generating a considerable parcel volume increase.
CityPaq adds to the other two e-commerce related services the Spanish postal operator launched last year – HomePaq and Comandia. HomePaq provides deliveries to residential houses using automated parcel boxes installed in common areas shared by neighbours. This shared service offers homeowners instant access to their parcels if they were out at the time of delivery. In the first phase, some 500 such parcel boxes were due to be installed in neighbourhood communities in Madrid, followed by a rollout to other areas at their request.
Comandia is a complete e-commerce service targeted at businesses, especially SMEs. The platform enables businesses to create an online shop in five minutes without any programming knowledge, to manage stock and orders as well as customer information and includes payments systems. Comandia also incorporates the Correos logistics system, enabling businesses to generate parcel labels directly.
