Dutch PostNL has teamed up with the internet electronics retailer Coolblue for customers to pickup their orders at one of its over 2,000 post offices when they cannot be at home to receive their
parcel.As part of the agreement, customers can choose for themselves when and where they want to pickup their orders with locations ranging from supermarkets and bookshops to petrol stations. Whenordered before 10.30 pm, the parcel can be picked up the next day after 4 pm at one of PostNL’soutlets for free.
According to the ‘Home Shopping Market Monitor’, a survey on online shopping trends conducted byBlauw Research in 2012, 80% of online shoppers want to decide themselves where and when an order isdelivered.
Founder and director of Coolblue, Peter Black, confirmed: “Many customers say they’d prefer tocollect their ordered products at a place of their choice. We can now offer that option by means ofthe PostNL collection points. There is always one in your vicinity.”
Founded in 1999, Coolblue expects to ship over 750,000 parcels this year.
Earlier this month, PostNL acquired Marvia, a young software company in the field of desktoppublishing (DTP), to strengthen its integrated product portfolio. Marvia offers an onlineapplication that allows customers to design ads, flyers, brochures, POS-material, business cardsand posters and send it to printers and distributors.
Through Marvia’s application, customers can save costs in the field of DTP and save time duringthe layout process of print material. Marvia’s software is based on cloud computing so that it iseasily accessible, relatively safe and scalable.
Last month, PostNL set up a joint venture with the self-service web application Layar forcustomers to achieve better results with direct marketing. They can use the Layar app on a tabletor smartphone to scan a page from a folder or direct mail with virtual buttons appearing on thescreen. This allows users to directly order the products on display in a direct mail or folderonline.
Layar can be easily combined with a variety of print e.g. cards, brochures and direct mailingswhile PostNL offers the facility to personalise the information. This can be done through apersonal code sent via direct mail for example so the customer arrives at his own page afterscanning. It is also possible that the message displayed after scanning responds to the region thecustomer is in. This way a recipient in The Hague receives a different message from someone inGroningen, PostNL explained.
