A new German delivery start-up Parcelbox2go is about to start testing its innovative concept of bundling all products ordered online by individual customers via an app and delivering them in one go to their homes at their desired time between 4-10 pm.
The pilot project will start in Dortmund and Münster in December with deliveries made by express courier network GO!
Parcelbox2go has emerged from a trend research project of the “Crowdnext-Innovationsmanufaktur” that focuses on implementing innovative ideas, in cooperation with the Technical University of Dortmund. The idea was to develop a logistics company that can deliver online orders at customers’ homes in a sustainable way at a time that suits them the most thus solving the ‘last-mile’ problem for online shoppers.
To use the service, interested online shoppers need to register on the Parcelbox2go website http://www.parcelbox2go.com/anmeldung/ indicating how many orders per week they plan to make. They can select between three options: 1-2 orders, 3-4 orders or 4-6 orders. Each time they place an order, they need to enter the Parcelbox2go address. Via the smartphone app that will be available for Android und iOS devices from next month, they will have an overview of all their parcels in a so-called ‘digital parcelbox’ provided by the app. The recipients can choose their desired delivery time between 4-10 pm.
The delivery price depends on the time slot that customers choose. For a parcel to be delivered within six hours, they pay €2.99, which is the cheapest option. A four-hour time slot costs €3.99, a two-hour slot – €4.99. Impatient online shoppers who want to have their parcels delivered within 30 minutes need to pay €5.99.
Parcelbox2go has several partners it works with, including the German express courier GO! which provides transportation of time-sensitive shipments on regional, national and international levels. The start-up company also takes care of the return shipments.
The start-up is inviting all interested online shoppers via its Facebook page to register for free and get the chance to win an iPad Mini. It has launched a competition ‘Dortmund vs Münster’ with the pictures of the two cities placed next to each other and a slogan “A service that is as unique as your city! You decide where we start”.
“We will start in the city which counts the most registered users on 31 November 2015,” Parcelbox2go said. Its head office is located in the town of Nordkirchen, located midway between Dortmund and Münster.
