Parcel collection points are growing in popularity as shoppers seek convenience.

Retailbiz speaks with Parcelpoint about the popularity of parcel collection points and why consumer demand for convenience and e-commerce is fuelling the growth of the industry.

CEO of Parcelpoint Julian Leach shares the latest insights. 

RB: How much has Parcelpoint grown over the past few years?

JL: Parcelpoint came to be in 2011. After seeing a much needed change in the market of receiving and returning parcels, I knew there had to be a better way for online shoppers and retailers. The ‘sorry, we missed you’ calling card had to become a thing of the past. Parcelpoint has now grown into a company that has served over one million customers across Australia (a milestone we hit last Christmas). We partner with some of the biggest global retailers including eBay, Amazon, The Iconic, ASOS and adidas. In this time, our team has grown to 35 and our Parcelpoint locations have grown to over 1400. We’ve also recently gone through a rebrand, bringing our company’s image back in line with it’s offering – to work with local communities to solve a complex e-commerce logistics problem.

RB: What is fuelling this growth? Is it consumers’ growing desire for convenience? And what is it that appeals to consumers so much?

JL: The driving force is definitely a demand for convenience. Today’s consumers are busy and time-poor. That’s why they’re shopping online. A traditional workday doesn’t allow much time to pop by your local Post Office to collect your parcel, and many workplaces are now frowning upon workers receiving deliveries at work. In fact, over 70 per cent of people, in a recent survey we ran, said they could not receive their online deliveries at work. Parcelpoint gives retailers the ability to listen to the demands and needs of consumers by providing flexibility to receive and return your parcels outside of business hours and on the weekends. Customers want to control their own time, and they want flexibility to receive or return items within their home or workplace neighbourhoods. We are really proud of our Net Promoter Score of 80, which shows we are hitting the mark for more than one million Australians with these growing expectations around convenience. 

RB: Do you think over time we will see a decline in home deliveries as people embrace this new form of delivery?

JL: Yes, we will see pickup take share from home delivery over time, as it’s both convenient and more cost-effective to deliver to a local pickup point. We’ve already seen mass adoption of pickup and drop-off services in other global markets where e-commerce is more mature. There is risk involved in opting to have parcels delivered to your home when you’re not there. Parcels are exposed to the weather or possible theft or damage when they’re sitting at your front door all day. Parcelpoint offers a safe and secure location until you’re ready to collect it in your local neighbourhood. We can expect to see growth as people become more aware of this simple solution to their online shopping deliveries. That said, online shopping is growing the parcel delivery market so rapidly that there’s plenty of room for a range of delivery solutions to be successful, in an environment where there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to customer needs.

RB: What are Parcelpoint’s plans for the future? How widespread do you hope to be?

JL: We are the largest pickup and drop off network in Australia, and we will continue to focus our growth on building our network to best serve all of our customers. We already work with more than 200 online retail brands, including most of the giants in the market, but we won’t rest until we are on every website where Aussies shop.  We want to provide everyone with the convenience of being able to not only shop online, but receive their goods at a time and place that suits them. We’re currently planning some really exciting product developments, based on what we’ve heard from our customers, so watch this space!

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