French consumers can now send parcels from their home letter box using a new Internet of Things (IoT) product called Domino that La Poste is currently testing, with more IoT services to follow this spring.
The French postal group is going deeper into the “internet of things” with the expansion of its innovative ‘digital hub’ which features, among other digital products and services that can be managed through a single app, a new “Domino” button enabling businesses and individuals to send parcels at a push of a button.
For the Domino pilot programme, La Poste has chosen SIGFOX, a global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity based near Toulouse. The Domino button, which complements the existing parcel services within the Colissimo product range, is placed below the regular letter box and is interconnected with La Poste’s digital hub.
SIGFOX said the Domino solution provides “fingertip convenience for ordering parcel pickup and delivery” via its dedicated, low-power and low-cost Internet of Things network, and improves efficiency of La Poste’s services.
Developed by the Digital and Services – Mail – Parcel divisions of La Poste, this innovative service allows individuals to place any unpackaged article in their mailbox equipped with a Domino button, and trigger the full support of the parcel by La Poste by just clicking on the button. This includes pickup, boxing, wrapping and shipping, SIGFOX explained.
This means that after the shipper has validated the order and entered the address of the recipient, a delivery person will come to collect the object placed in the letter box, take care of the packaging and postage and send the parcel off to the recipient.
SIGFOX added that with its low power wide area (LPWA) technology, the service can transmit requests over long distances at very low cost. “The transmission power is equivalent to what a portable remote control would require.”
The Domino solution will be tested in a pilot area in the first half of this year. In the future, it could be used for other services as it has been initially set up as a universal and personalised solution, La Poste said.
“Our collaboration with the Groupe La Poste is another great example of the IoT’s huge potential for value creation through innovative new services,” Stuart Lodge, SIGFOX executive vice president global sales and partners, said. “SIGFOX is bringing this potential to a rapidly growing base of companies internationally with the assurance of consistent quality of service and very low energy consumption by connected objects.”
The cost-effective and easy-to-integrate SIGFOX connectivity allows companies wherever the network is available to implement their IoT solutions widely and inexpensively. The network, which is operational or is being deployed in 12 countries, covers 80% of France and its territories and 91% of the population.
Currently deployed or being rolled out in the USA and 11 European countries with over 5 million devices registered in its network, SIGFOX is today the only IoT-dedicated connectivity solution commercially available that guarantees a high level of service and reliability on an international scale. The company has offices in Boston, Dubai, Madrid and San Francisco.
The Domino solution, which was presented at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week, is part of La Poste’s efforts to compensate for its declining mail business by diversifying into new business areas as well as expanding parcels and financial services. La Poste’s digital hub is operated through its subsidiary Docapost in cooperation with Arcos, a French specialist of connected objects including smartphones, tablets and other digital equipment.
La Poste presented its digital hub for the first time at the CES 2015 a year ago with the aim to offer customers a common platform to connect all their digital objects and enable them to manage information in a secure way while multiplying the use of the respective objects.
The digital hub allows customers to connect multiple “intelligent” objects such as scales, smoke detectors, lamps and smartphones in a simple and secure way. It targets both individuals who want to simplify their daily lives and companies that can thus create and put on the market totally innovative services responding to these needs.
Over the last year La Poste has partnered with 16 start-ups and four industrial groups which are now all connected to the digital hub. They present connected objects and services and illustrate the usage in several pioneer markets for the internet of things including the ‘silver economy’ (senior citizens), e-health and well-being, sharing economy and housing.
In spring this year, La Poste will launch a new mobile application for the digital hub enabling users to interconnect all their digital objects and services, centralise their data and choose with whom they want to share them.
La Poste CEO Philippe Wahl says: "Our ambition is to assert ourselves as a universal operator of physical and digital exchanges serving individuals, professionals, companies and government departments. We believe that La Poste, a neutral and universal operator, has differentiating advantages to simplify the digital life of the French population."
