ParcelXchange – meeting the need for flexibility
Paul Carvell, CEO, Business Direct
World Mail Review May 2008 In October 2007, Business Direct’s ParcelXchange Worldwide was launched globally, primarily to Post Offices and is now in use in more than 5 European countries and in South East Asia in both the B2B and B2C markets.
There are currently 310 sites with 4500 individual lockers in the UK. ParcelXchange is also in use by DHL Sameday in Southern Ireland as well as having a number of live pilots in Finland, Estonia, France, Singapore and Taiwan. Business Direct anticipate that ParcelXchange will be used in circa 12 countries across 3 continents in the next 12 months.
Paul Carvell, CEO Business Direct said, “Globally, ParcelXchange has recently seen major success in Ireland with DHL Sameday and the signing of a 5 year contract which includes plans to use the modular ParcelXchanges for in-night deliveries for field service engineers and business-to-business same day solutions. As well as this, the interest shown by the worldwide Postal industry has been tremendous, with a live B2C pilot in progress with Itella/Posti. The pilot was a commission with ParcelXchange Worldwide (a division of Business Direct Group) after Itella identified through market research amongst customers’ and consumers in both their home market and in Estonia for additional delivery options in the distance selling market. The results of which led them to identify customer demand for greater levels of convenience and flexibility, to be able to collect parcels and accept deliveries whenever, and wherever they require and in the shortest time possible. Globally, a large proportion of interest has been in ParcelXchanges with between 50 and 100 lockers per unit. Achieving greater consolidation of deliveries will naturally drive down the costs seen by the operators and in turn, this saving will be shared by the end user.”
The ‘ParcelXchange’ with its leading edge ‘SoftLocker’ IT and ATM style technology, was identified as the ‘delivery solution of this future’ and the way forward for the ‘unattended delivery solutions’.”
Research shows that the B2C market is around 600 million parcels per annum to 26 million internet shoppers which is undoubtedly a big growth area and one which will take on increasing worldwide importance over the next two years. Worldwide, the figures are equally as dramatic, and it is partly due to this that licensing the ParcelXchange globally has been as successful as it has in only 6 months. Postal authorities and express carriers alike are actively seeking solutions to their own market challenges and these we know can be reliably met through the use of the ParcelXchange. Providing greater market choice, flexibility and the necessary scalability to achieve those ‘virtual, unmanned post office’ site requirements in the B2C markets. Whilst in the B2B express market it provides carriers with an in-night secure delivery point for pre-8am customer collections in the field, thereby reducing the potential number of service delivery failures to zero.
In the UK domestic market, ParcelForce Worldwide, The Royal Mail’s parcel distribution division have entered into a 3 year contract to use the ParcelXchange network in the UK, adding the facility to their existing extensive portfolio of delivery services. With additional contracts also currently being agreed with 3 further major European and Asian Post Offices for B2C alternative delivery solutions and further B2B pilots are in progress in France, Singapore and Taiwan.
The UK ‘In Night’ market has been gaining rapid market share from traditional parcel carriers, (offering depot collect and pre-10am). Major recent wins for Business Direct include Jungheinrich and Siemens Medical, all wishing to improve productivity, reduce cost, and enhance customer service levels and response to down time (up to 30% reduction in costs).
Equally, on the continent the ‘In Night’ market has seen similar growth and the launch of ParcelXchange Worldwide, offers the customer the opportunity to lease the ParcelXchange equipment and operate the software under license is being seen as the perfect solution to meet the demand in growth. There is no capex and the customer can start small and build up as their customers’ requirements grow.
Paul Carvell continues, “Business Direct’s ParcelXchange offers the Global Market the opportunity to rent the ParcelXchange, the customer will provide the logistics and marketing to their customers. The rental agreement includes access to our unrivalled track and trace software, SoftLocker. This software not only offers full visibility of deliveries; collections and returns, but also allows the customer to remotely communicate with each ParcelXchange in operation – this function is perfect for driver and end user training. As well as this, ParcelXchange is modular – meaning that it is fully configurable to our customers requirements, it can even be adapted, or added too when on site and operational. This unique design allows the customer to build their locker network at a pace that not only suits their customers, but their budgets too. Just has importantly on the environmental agenda, the ParcelXchange has impeccable green credentials. Consolidated their deliveries, reduces the need for as many vehicles on the road. As well as that, ParcelXchange reduces travel time for both the customers’ drivers and their customers, therefore reducing C02 emissions and the impacting on the environment.”
