Royal Mail has launched a new parcel pick-up service called Parcel Collect across the UK and has in a recent study revealed that more firms are moving further into ecommerce in response to the COVID-19 challenges.
The new Parcel Collect service means posties will now be able to collect parcels as well as deliver them on their daily round. The company sees this as one of the biggest changes to the daily delivery since the launch of the postbox in 1852.
As well as offering even higher levels of convenience, the move means that online sellers and online shoppers will no longer need to leave the comfort of their home if they want to mail or return a pre-paid item by post.
Under the ground-breaking initiative, postmen and postwomen will collect a parcel from the customer’s door or nominated safe place for 72p per parcel, in addition to postage costs. Parcel Collect is also available for pre-paid return items at a cost of 60p per item.
Royal Mail can collect up to five parcels per address, the service is available six days a week and can be booked up to five days in advance and up to midnight the day before.
In order to use the service, customers simply need to ensure they have already paid the correct postage to send their item. If an item does not have pre-paid postage such as a return, customers are able to pay for their postage online by visiting www.royalmail.com/bookcollection or via the Royal Mail app and opt for ‘Parcel Collect’.
They will then be able to work out the correct cost of postage for their item and print out a pre-paid label which is fixed to the package. When the item gets collected, the customer will receive an email notification that acts as proof of postage.
The nationwide launch follows an initial roll-out of Parcel Collect in certain postcode areas of West England.
More British firms sell online
Meanwhile, new Royal Mail research reveals that more than 7 in 10 (71%) British firms claim to have changed their business model in response to the coronavirus crisis. The urgent need to adapt has been fairly consistent across companies of all sizes and across all industries.
Of those who have made changes to their business model, over half believe these will be for the long term. A quarter anticipate some of them will be permanent.
The most common changes that business leaders anticipate will be kept on permanently include selling more products or services online (41% of those who have introduced this measure), new online customer service options (39%) and additional delivery services (31%).
Furthermore, 7% of British businesses have introduced a new delivery option for their products, with large organisations making this change most frequently (11%). 5% of businesses have launched a takeaway or click and collect service.
In the retail sector, more than one in five (23%) businesses have chosen to sell more products or services online since the start of the pandemic. Nearly one in ten retail businesses (8%) has moved to trade solely online.
