DPD Germany cuts online shipping rates, upgrades tracking
Parcel carrier DPD Germany is reducing its prices for customers accessing its shipping services online. The company said that from the start of this month, it is cutting rates for all parcels that are paid for online and then shipped from one of its ParcelShops.
DPD is also launching a new XS parcel service, for very small parcels, up to 35cm long, shipping at the flat rate of EUR 3.90, which will only be available through its website dpdwebpaket.de.
However, prices for parcels customers pay for at ParcelShops increase by an average of 6%.
The company said encouraging customers to pay for their parcel shipping online before they get to a ParcelShop would improve the service at the ParcelShop.
“Paying for parcels online makes processing at the DPD ParcelShop even faster and more convenient,” explained Michael Knaupe, DPD Germany’s director of business-to-consumer products and services.
“On our online portal shippers benefit not just from lower prices, but can also take advantage of a range of useful options such as our delivery time window.”
DPD customers can pay for parcel shipping by direct debit or PayPal at the company’s website, which generates required shipping labels. As well as taking a parcel to a ParcelShop for shipping, for a surcharge customers can have a DPD courier collect the item.
Prices for shipping parcels from ParcelShops were increased this week from EUR 4.30 to EUR 4.50 for the basic rate.
DPD now has more than 5,000 ParcelShops around Germany, with plans to expand to 8,000.
Tracking
The company, majority-owned by French postal operator La Poste’s GeoPost Group, is currently in the process of upgrading its parcel tracking services so that recipients can track their parcels live on the day of delivery. It means recipients will be able to see where there parcel is at any given time right until it arrives at the front door.
Consumers are given a one-to-three hour delivery window, notified by text or email, and they can postpone the delivery by sending a reply to the notification. Later this year, DPD Germany is expecting to go further, reducing its estimated delivery times to a one-hour window from mid-2014.
The firm even believes it will shrink its delivery window to just 30 minutes.
The new tracking service, following on from a similar roll-out by DPD in the UK last summer, rolled out in Germany at the end of January, and is already being accessed more than 100,000 times each day.
Boris Winkelman, the DPD Germany chief, said the numbers demonstrated that his company knows what is important to consumers.
“This new parcel tracking function in real time is ideal for all consignees who are looking forward to the arrival of their parcel and don’t want to miss the delivery driver,” he said.
“At the same time, the display on the map provides a preliminary taste of the way in which DPD is planning to raise its delivery service to private consignees to an entirely level this year.”
