UK parcel delivery firm Collect+ "will be profitable next year"

One of the joint owners of UK parcel delivery and returns service Collect+ has said the venture should become profitable in the year ending March 2013. Electronic payment providers PayPoint, which formed Collect+ jointly with parcel delivery firm Yodel, said Collect+ has seen its volumes up 500% and revenue increasing fivefold to GBP 2.7m.

Reporting its financial results for the six months up to September, PayPoint said Collect+ saw its net revenue increasing from GBP 400,000 in the same period last year to GBP 2.3m.

However, while doubling its investment in the business year-on-year during the period to GBP 800,000, PayPoint’s share of losses in the joint venture rose 32% to GBP 935,000 for the six months.

Growth

The number of transactions for Collect+ grew from 300,000 in the same period in 2010 to 1.4m in the most recent six months. The company is now managing more than 80,000 parcels a week, according to its parent.

Collect+ now provides business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer parcel services through 4,500 PayPoint retail partners.

PayPoint noted that 40% of transactions involved consumers sending or receiving parcels outside normal working hours, highlighting the convenience of accessing the services via extended-hour retailers.

Returns make up 61% of net revenues at Collect+, with parcel deliveries 30% and C2C transactions comprising 9% of sales. From year to year, this has seen a stable proportion of revenue from deliveries, but revenue from C2C activities has grown to make up a 9% share of overall net revenue thanks to integration with eBay marketplace and resellers including Parcel2Go.

PayPoint said returns was now an “established” offering for online retailers, while initial deliveries from retailers will prove a key growth area in 2012. Collect+ gained 44 new merchants during the six-month period, including JD Sports, Monsoon, Asda Direct, Argos Outlet and Aurora.

Looking ahead, the company will seek out further new clients, and hopes to extend delivery services to its existing returns clients.

Click & CollectPlus

Collect+ itself said today its network has expanded 20% in the last six months, taking its retail reach to a third of that enjoyed by the Post Office.

The company it has doubled the number of brands it is working with, taking its customer bse up to 100 and helping reach a 4m parcels mark.

The company said its Click & CollectPlus online delivery service would be a key focus for growth in 2012.

Mark Lewis, CEO of CollectPlus, said: “As we move into 2012, our next area of focus will be to further develop our Click & CollectPlus service, which allows consumers to pick up goods bought online from their local CollectPlus shop. Recent research shows that two thirds of online shoppers are attracted to this concept and we expect it to be a key area of growth for us as it continues revolutionise how we all shop online.”