Amazon has launched various new delivery services in Europe this week, including a cooperation with DPD, and apparently plans to install parcel lockers in several countries as it continues to expand its logistics activities across the continent.
In Benelux, the company has tripled its alternative delivery network to 2,300 collection points by adding 1,500 DPD Pickup points where customers can collect their online orders. The cooperation covers 750 retail outlets in the Netherlands, 725 in Belgium and 25 in Luxembourg, and applies to the 2-3 day standard delivery service.
“Customers can now pick up their Amazon order in one of the DPD Pickup locations across the Benelux states,” said Roy Perticucci, Vice President Europe Amazon Customers & Fulfillment. “Numerous customers have adopted the parcel collection service from a pickup point. Developing our collection points in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands is an additional way of offering customers a service level that really simplifies their life.”
In Germany, where the US e-commerce giant plans to create a network of delivery stations for same-day delivery in city centres, it is apparently also planning to set up a network of lockers for parcel collection, although details are sketchy so far.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the company is advertising for ‘parcel locker managers’ in Germany and also in France to help set up such a network. There are already Amazon Lockers at various locations in the UK and the USA. In Germany, Amazon Lockers would compete directly with the DHL Packstations.
In Italy, the company has launched fresh food deliveries in the Milan region through its Prime Now service. Consumers can order 30 different kinds of fresh fruit and vegetables along with chilled/frozen goods and some 20,000 other products for delivery between 08.00 and midnight every day of the week. The Italian Prime Now service offers free deliveries in a two-hour timeslot for orders of more than €19, while there is a €6.90 charge for one-hour deliveries.
In the UK, the company announced it will open a one million sq ft fulfilment centre in Coalville, Leicestershire, this autumn, creating 500 new permanent jobs over three years. The new roles are part of plans to create 2,500 permanent jobs in the UK this year, bringing the company’s total workforce to 14,500 by the end of 2016.
Amazon has ten fulfilment centres in the UK, including two in Doncaster and one each in Dunfermline, Dunstable, Gourock, Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Rugeley and Swansea Bay. Two of these centres opened in 2015.
Elsewhere, Amazon has expanded its Prime Now service in the USA by introducing restaurant delivery in San Diego. This is already available in Austin, Baltimore and Chicago.
Using the Prime Now mobile app, San Diego customers can view participating restaurants, browse menus, place orders, track the status of their delivery, and watch as the driver travels from the restaurant to the delivery address in real time. Once an order is placed, Amazon delivery drivers pick up and deliver the food within an hour or less. The average delivery time since introducing restaurant delivery on Prime Now is 39 minutes.
The company is apparently also expanding its crowdsourced ‘Amazon Flex’ programme, where private drivers working as subcontractors deliver parcels on a part-time basis. Flex drivers in Texas are now not only delivering urgent Prime Now goods but also standard non-urgent packages, the company has confirmed.
Meanwhile, in India, the company launched the Amazon Now app for customers in Bangalore at the start of this month. Using Amazon Now, Indian customers can shop for over 6,000 everyday essentials from local stores and have the products delivered to their doorstep within 2 hours or at a pre-scheduled time.
“We are encouraged by the learnings from Kirana Now – a pilot that we started last year in Bangalore to enable customers to shop for their everyday essentials from the ecosystem of their local stores and get them delivered within 2-4 hours. We are excited to expand that service to include more selection, more pin codes and invite other branded retailers, with the launch of a dedicated Android app Amazon Now. Amazon Now customers in Bangalore will love this service and our launch promotion will delight them further,” said Samir Kumar, Vice President Category Management, Amazon India.
