British railway station parcel shop specialist Doddle has signed up to join DPD UK's parcel shop network Pickup, which will launch on June 22 with the ambition to build a network of 2,500 parcel shops located at retail outlets that are within ten minutes of most people in the UK.
Doddle, which has 34 dedicated parcel stores at railway stations nationwide, will join DPD's collect and return network to give DPD customers even more options, with key locations in London such as Waterloo Station, Cannon Street, Victoria and Westfield Stratford shopping centre.
Launched in September 2014 as a joint venture between Network Rail and Lloyd Dorfman, Doddle plans to expand its ‘commute and collect’ parcel shop network to around 100 stores by the end of this year. Its shops are fully manned, open seven days a week early until late and many include changing rooms.
The expansion marks the next major European expansion move for the group’s growing pickup and dropoff (PUDO) network, which already includes some 7,000 outlets in France, 5,000 in Germany and nearly 2,000 in other countries. Parent group GeoPost aims to create an integrated pan-European parcel points network under the Pickup brand with more than 20,000 locations as part of its B2C growth strategy.
In the UK, the new DPD Pickup locations will compete in an increasingly crowded parcel shop 'marketplace' with rival networks including 5,500 CollectPlus stores (a Yodel joint venture), Hermes’ 3,500 locations, some 2,600 UPS Access Points as well as 11,500 post offices used by Royal Mail. InPost’s network of some 1,000 parcel lockers is another 'click and collect' option for British online shoppers.
DPD UK said it aims to transform ‘collect and return' by truly integrating it into the purchasing and delivery processes and offering customers a greatly improved parcel shop experience. The DPD Pickup locations will provide an alternative to home delivery, giving consumers even more choice and flexibility.
In addition, DPD Pickup will be one of the standard options appearing in DPD's text and email notifications, which are sent ahead of a scheduled home delivery. This means that if customers know they won’t be at home they can divert their delivery to a DPD Pickup point for collection at a time that suits them.
DPD UK CEO Dwain McDonald commented: "Doddle is a great fit with DPD Pickup and I'm delighted to be able to offer their service as part of our network. We set out to give our customers a much better parcel shop experience and that's exactly what Doddle does. Their shops look great, their staff are really helpful and they are in fantastic locations. One of our core objectives was to have shops located within five minutes of most people in London, and working with Doddle gives us some fantastic locations in the capital.
"DPD Pickup is all about helping to put our customers in control of where and when their parcel is delivered and giving them even more choice. Doddle shops are accessible, easy to use and have the capacity to handle very large volumes of parcels. When you couple that with our Predict and Follow My Parcel services you get a very smart proposition indeed, and a great customer experience."
Doddle CEO Tim Robinson highlighted the strategic location of the stores in and around major UK train stations to make parcel collection and delivery something customers can do quickly and easily as part of their commute. “Retailers are now more focused than ever on giving their shoppers the best delivery experience possible. DPD's home delivery service is held in very high regard by retailers, but by teaming up I think we can offer both retailers and parcel recipients an unbeatable proposition."
DPD claimed it is the fastest growing major parcel delivery company in the UK and has created over 4,000 new jobs in the last five years as a result of unprecedented growth and a £250 million investment, including a new £100 million national parcel hub at Hinckley in central England. The construction of the hub in the East Midlands, which will be the largest of its kind in Europe, is now complete. It is due to open later in 2015, creating another 1,000 permanent full-time jobs.
