DPDGroup has extended its Pickup parcel shop network to over 20,000 locations in Europe, with 3,000 Pickup points now available in Spain and in the UK to complete the company’s offering for ‘out-of-home deliveries’.
SEUR in Spain and DPD in the UK have been extending their respective national parcel shop networks since September 2015. While DPD UK already offers more than 2,000 Pickup points, SEUR is set to extend its network to 1,600 Pickup points by 2016.
Pickup is one of the densest PUDO (Pick-Up and Drop-Off) networks in Europe, with over 20,000 Pickup points in 13 countries (France, United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Austria). This allows 95% of Europeans to reach a Pickup point within 15 minutes. The Pickup network thus serves all customers of the DPDgroup brands including DPD, Chronopost, SEUR and Interlink Express.
In the next step, DPD will start opening Pickup points in Poland while DPD Russia will extend its current network of 800 collection points across the country to 2,000 next year, as part of the company’s strategic goal to become a leading service provider for the B2C segment.
“Pickup is a service that meets current customers’ needs. While home delivery is our core delivery service, we are adapting to new lifestyles (working hours, long daily commuting time, etc.) by complementing it with out-of-home delivery options such as the Pickup points,” DPDGroup said. “In Europe, parcels hops are becoming vitally important for delivery operators as they provide a quick and effective means of delivering the growing number of online orders.”
Pickup points are located in strategic areas with independent retailers (florists, tobacconists, petrol stations, newsagents, etc.) to better respond to customer lifestyles (neighbouring businesses, road network, train/bus/metro stations, etc.). This means consignees benefit from longer opening hours, six days a week on average, which offers more convenience for customer last-mile deliveries across Europe. The parcel shops can handle up to 40 parcels a day.
DPDGroup continues to innovate with new delivery solutions and is currently testing Pickup Stations and Pickup Stores in France prior to their pan-European rollout.
The Pickup Station is a parcel terminal consisting of automatic lockers for parcel pick-up and drop-off. Each locker station can handle up to 100 parcels, with most of the Pickup Stations being opened around the clock, seven days a week. There are currently over 300 Pickup Stations operating across France.
The Pickup Store is able to handle over 100 parcels a day. Pickup Stores are located in very busy areas (train stations, metro/bus, shopping malls, etc.), where consignees can profit from other products and services (grocery store, dry cleaner, etc.). The advantage of this solution is that parcel recipients can pass by on their way home.
