Post Office opens £14m one-stop shop
THE POST OFFICE, soon to be rebranded Consignia, is launching a UKPd14m
one-stop e-fulfilment operation as the next phase in its e-commerce
masterplan announced last year.
A comprehensive e-commerce service, offering warehousing, fulfilment,
direct marketing and customer management, is being targeted at high street
retailers and manufacturers looking to sell direct without necessarily investing in in-house end-to-end fulfilment.
One of the new services, undergoing trials in the South-West, allows
customers to send packages direct to a Post Office of their choice.
Phase one of the scheme involved taking the postal operator’s back
catalogue of collectibles and commemorative stamps online in time for the Christmas market. A limited collection of jewellery, picture frames and posters is also being sold (PM, September 11 2000).
Parcelforce Worldwide has extended its morning and evening slots, creating
a 12-hour delivery operation between 9am and 9pm, to bolster home shopping.
Nearly 100 catalogue and e-commerce retailers including Homebase.co.uk and
Ocean Home Shopping are now offering extended delivery services through
the Post Office.
Post Office home shopping marketing director Nigel Moore comments: “We have
exciting future plans in e-delivery to continue to meet customer demands
for speed, reliability, choice of destination and timed delivery as well as
managing returns, facilitating direct marketing, managing warehousing,
online security and customer service.”
