Hermes Germany is cooperating with Sparda-Bank Berlin to expand its parcel shop network to selected branches of the bank in Berlin and other German cities, as part of its ambitious growth plan to increase the number of parcel shops across the country by 30% by 2020.
The nationwide parcel shop network is becoming increasingly important for Hermes in view of its growing parcel volumes. The B2C delivery specialist currently operates around 15,000 parcel shops across Germany.
The first parcel shops will initially be opened at 13 central branches of Sparda-Bank. The new locations include the cities of Berlin, Brandenburg, Leipzig, Cottbus, Rostock, Nordhausen, Jena, Halle, Magdeburg, Stendal, Wismar and Erfurt. Hermes plans to expand the trials to further cities and branches.
At the new parcel shops, Sparda-Bank customers can send private parcels and packages both within Germany and abroad as well as return online orders. They can also pick up their online orders, which include, for example, orders from OTTO, Amazon, H&M und bonprix. In this case, the parcels are not delivered to their homes but directly to the bank branch where they are available for collection for ten days. The service is free of charge and is primarily aimed at bank customers and online shoppers who are not at home during the day.
"Strategic parcel shop cooperations with partners from the retail trade but also with institutions such as banks or transport companies contribute to the continuous growth of our parcel shop network. This way, we are moving ever closer to our customers at more and more locations and shortening the distances – which is particularly important if customers want to have an online order sent directly to a parcel shop. In this respect, the cooperation with Sparda-Bank Berlin fits very well into our concept,” explained Thomas Horst, Managing Director Sales & Marketing at Hermes Germany.
"If you want to find answers to the questions of tomorrow, you have to break new ground. As a bank, we try to reach new customers and open up new sources of income that are independent of the interest rate market. If you look at bank branches, there is room for new cooperations,” commented Martin Laubisch, Chief Sales Officer at Sparda-Bank Berlin, on the new partnership with Hermes.
