Deutsche Post DHL is testing various innovative technologies, including autonomous vehicles and smart glasses along with its new Parcelcopter drones, and is not worried about Amazon’s plans to develop its own city delivery operation in Germany.
Jürgen Gerdes, DP DHL board member and head of the PeP division, told European journalists that the group is working on a wide range of innovative solutions for e-commerce and creating a portfolio of final-mile delivery services in response to rapidly changing customer wishes.
Speaking at the presentation of the newly-developed ‘Parcelcopter 3.0’ delivery drone near Munich, Gerdes explained that online shoppers have different delivery needs and wants at different times. “There is no same-day Fritz and next-day Franz,” he joked.
The group’s online marketplace ‘Allyouneed’, which serves mostly SME e-retailers, already offers evening deliveries through the DHL Courier network but new options could be added. “We are looking at different time windows during the day so people can choose a two-hour delivery time,” he said.
The ‘car trunk delivery’ pilot scheme with Audi and Amazon launched last year had been “a niche business at the beginning” but had developed into “a great service”. Under the three-way test project, DHL delivers Amazon parcels directly into the car-boot of participating owners, with access via a secure smartphone app.
In response to CEP-Research questions about innovative technologies such as autonomous vehicles, smart glasses, 3D printing and robots, Gerdes declared: “I believe in all this technology.”
He revealed that DP DHL is currently testing a self-driving vehicle but did not provide further details, and said warehouse productivity had been improved by 25% by using smart glasses for picking customer goods.
However, Gerdes played down the potential of 3D printing for consumer use, saying that he sees the technology as more suitable for industrial production. He also outlined DHL Parcel Germany’s network of 3,000 Parcelstations, 25,000 parcel shops, residential parcel-boxes and other final-mile delivery services.
Asked about Amazon’s ambitions to create a Germany-wide network of distribution centres to enable same-day delivery by local partner couriers, Gerdes said it is “normal” for the e-commerce company to test out such deliveries but predicted it would not be easy to set up such a network.
But he emphasised: “We’re not in competition with Amazon. We have a very good relationship with them and Amazon is a great customer. I know that they know how good we are. I have no doubt that they will stay as our biggest customer.” DHL is currently working on “ideas for new services” for Amazon, he added.
Amazon is planning to set up a Germany-wide network of local delivery centres and create its own operation for services such as same-day deliveries in major cities. In the initial operation in Munich, goods are transported from a regional distribution centre to the local delivery centre and then delivered to customers by some 200 drivers working for six independent local delivery partners.
