Posti to launch e-commerce facility with fitting rooms
On 1 November Finnish state-owned postal service provider Posti will open a new facility in Helsinki featuring a giant parcel locker and a fitting room for online shoppers.
The facility – called Box – is also a physical store for online retailers and a testing space for Posti’s new digital services.
“A piece has been missing between the home and webshop, but that space will be filled by Box,” said Kaisa Ilola, the director of customer experience and channels at Posti.
Box is designed to consolidate the service provider’s growth in the online retail space. Posti has conducted a study showing that almost a fifth of Finns expect to be doing most, if not all, of their shopping online by 2025.
“The new space on Keskuskatu is an accurate illustration of the historically quick change of e-commerce and Posti. Due to the growth in online and C2C sales, a significant share of the consumers’ visits to Posti have to do with collecting or sending parcels. This is why we need to change. Box is our response to the growth of e-commerce and to the new consumer habits of the Finnish people. Box is a great example of how Posti is reforming,” explains Ilola.
Any customer of Posti can have their order delivered to Box and pick it up, for instance, on their way to work or in-between a shopping spree in the city centre. The purpose of Box is to make it as easy as possible to pick up and send online orders.
“If a customer has placed an order for clothes online, they can try on the clothes straight away. If the clothes fit, that’s great. If they don’t fit, the customer can return them immediately without having to go home first. Other kinds of orders can also be opened at Box straight away. The customers can leave the packaging materials here to be recycled or used by other customers. The consumer behavior of the Finnish people has changed significantly. Before, there was a piece missing between the online store and home. Box was created to fill in the missing piece,” Ilola says.
All of Posti’s delivery, transport, freight and warehousing services in Finland are carbon neutral Posti Green services for our customers – without additional fees.
“Box has also been designed to be as climate-friendly as possible. Online shoppers can reduce their CO2 emissions by up to 70% by routing their parcels along their everyday routes. The location of Box on Keskuskatu is close to many of our customers’ daily routes. Box cannot be reached by car – it is located along excellent public transportation connections. In addition, special attention has been paid to the packaging materials and their recyclability”, Ilola says.
Posti’s own digital services are also tried out at Box. For instance, parcels and letters can be sent via the new self-service terminal, where the customer can pay for shipping and speak to Posti’s customer service team via a video connection, if necessary. The self-service terminals are currently being tested, as they will be used in the OmaPosti kiosks that will be opened in the future.
