DHL Express is planning to launch a new international B2C ‘On Demand Delivery’ service to profit from rising cross-border volumes for direct consumer delivery after forthcoming pilot schemes in Australia and other markets.
The express operator confirmed a report earlier this week in The Australian newspaper that Australia would be the first country to pilot the rollout of ‘a new global delivery platform for online retailers and consumers’. It will also be tested in several markets in other regions.
DHL Express’ core business is to focus on B2B time-definite international express shipments but it has seen rising volumes of international B2C shipments over the last couple of years as cross-border e-commerce starts to take off, especially to and from the USA, UK, China and other popular online shopping markets.
The new B2C service is expected to combine use of the express operator’s worldwide network with various delivery models depending on local market conditions. These could include consumer deliveries through DHL units, local partners or alternative delivery points such as parcel shops and self-service lockers. There would also be flexible delivery options such as delivery timeslot notification, delivery postponement and redirection to an alternative address.
DHL Express spokesman Dan McGrath told CEP-Research: “The tool has a range of functions, from providing more visibility for customers on the estimated delivery times of their orders to providing a set of delivery options in advance. This reflects the approach we are already taking in many markets to address the ‘last mile’ delivery challenge with online orders. One of the main aims of ‘On Demand Delivery’ is to ensure that we are standardising the service offering across a single IT platform and offering an enhanced customer experience.”
In Australia, DHL Express will target the booming market for imported B2C goods with the service, which is likely to offer home delivery through Australia Post as well as to alternative delivery locations in cooperation with diverse ‘parcel point’ operators. The service will also be available for outbound B2C shipments to other pilot countries.
Gary Edstein, senior vice president DHL Express Oceania, told The Australian that the country had been chosen for the rollout because of its “incredibly strong B to C (business to consumer) market”, and DHL would be talking with diverse potential partners for a network of alternative delivery points.
He explained: “The On Demand Delivery model is a global solution we are working on where the consumer will have a whole range of options with respect to the final delivery — authority to leave, deliver to neighbour, change date of delivery, etc.”
DHL Express will continue the pilot schemes over the next few months and then announce details of the new service once the pilot schemes have been reviewed and the service is ready for rollout to other markets.
