DPD “on track” to establishing 8,000 Parcel Shops in Germany
Parcel carrier DPD has now expanded its network of parcel shops in Germany to more than 5,000 — and believes it is “on track” to reach 8,000. The company said back in October 2012 that it wanted to create Germany’s third biggest parcel shop network, after those of rivals Hermes and GLS.
It hasn’t quite hit the target set at the time, to add 2,000 outlets to its network of 4,000 by the end of 2013.
But the company said yesterday that it was making good progress, with framework agreements in place with retail chains securing a “significant” number of potential new sites.
Boris Winkelmann, DPD’s chief operating officer, said the target to reach 8,000 outlets in the medium-term was an “ambitious” goal in the highly competitive German parcel market.
Winkelmann said: “In recent months DPD has completed numerous framework agreements, for example with the Association of German Booksellers, the retail network of [fuel retailer] BVT-Verbunds, as well as other retail chains. Altogether, these give us access to a potential number of sites in the five figures. So we are on track — I’m very confident that we will tech the 8,000 mark for locations.”
“Intelligent”
Parcel Shops provide an alternative location for householders to receive parcels if they will not be at home during the day. Operators have hand scanners to help track parcels, while a central Operations Centre can oversee the network and determine if a Parcel Shop is reaching capacity, so that packages can be diverted if necessary.
DPD, majority-owned by La Poste’s parcel subsidiary GeoPost Group, said its Parcel Shop network is now large enough so that 95% of the German population is within 10 minutes of an outlet.
The ultimate goal is that no one will have to travel more than five minutes on foot to reach a DPD Parcel Shop, the firm said.
Winklemann said that high standards and strict selection criteria for the outlets providing DPD’s parcel shop services was more important than the sheer number of outlets. The company has an “intelligent” site planning system using geodata to decide where Parcel Shops should be.
“Our DPD Parcel Shops should be found exactly where they can best fit with the normal everyday life of package recipients,” he said.
