Network Rail launches £24m parcel shop roll-out for UK stations

Britain’s rail infrastructure firm Network Rail has launched its plan to roll out 300 parcel shops at stations across the country. The joint venture Doddle has been earmarked £24m investment by the rail firm, along with equal co-investor Lloyd Dorfman, the founder of retail foreign exchange business Travelex.

Network Rail first launched trials of Doddle at its headquarters in Milton Keynes last December. The nationwide roll-out should create 3,000 jobs over the next three years, the firm said yesterday.

The Doddle business builds on the popularity of the “click and collect” model of online shopping, offering an alternative location for e-commerce consumers to pick up their purchases when they cannot be at home to accept delivery.

Doddle is open to any retailer, parcel carrier or shipper to use for shipping out products or accepting returns.

Rather than establish a network of thousands of small parcel shops, as rival operators such as CollectPlus, myHermes ParcelShop and UPS Access Point have done, Doddle aims to set up 300 of its outlets across the country, in station locations that provide very high levels of footfall.

London Waterloo station, destined to be one of the first to host a Doddle outlet following the Milton Keynes pilot store, offers footfall levels of around 100m people a year.

Other stations that will be among the first to host Doddle outlets include Bromley South, Brighton, Chelmsford and London Cannon Street.

Doddle stores will be set up within under-used space in stations, and will open seven days per week with long opening hours to fit in with consumers’ busy lifestyles. In particular, the new business will provide convenience for commuters in collecting online purchases on the way to or from work.

Consumers will receive text messages or emails to notify them of the arrival of parcels, as happens with other parcel shops. But some Doddle outlets will even feature changing rooms.

Network Rail said yesterday it has some of the UK’s largest retailers already on board, including ASOS, New Look and T.M.Lewin, “with many more to follow”.

Dorfman

Dorfman, who is to act as chairman for Doddle, set up Travelex in the 1970s. The company now trades in 80 currencies in more than 50 countries. It was sold by majority owner Apax Partners and Dorfman himself late last month.

Commenting on the launch of the Doddle joint venture, Dorfman said: “I signed the Doddle joint venture contract literally hours after signing the recent Travelex deal. We intend to take the experience of creating a challenger brand to provide a game-changing service for millions of online shoppers.”

Doddle said its research suggested 59% of British consumers now use click and collect, around 30m people. The firm said consumers were more likely to use this service if there was a convenient method of making returns.

Any retailer is free to offer click and collect delivery to a Doddle store, the firm said, adding that existing users New Look and T.M.Lewin are using Doddle in addition to their own existing in-store click and collect and next day delivery services.

The company said its retailer-neutral, carrier-neutral model meant consumers could combine collections and returns from multiple retailers in a single trip to a Doddle store.

“Premium service”

Tim Robinson, who was previously route managing director for Sussex at Network Rail, has taken charge as chief executive of Doddle.

Robinson said the venture has been created to improve the online shopping experience, not just to add another click and collect offer.

“We offer a premium service with contemporary shops, advanced technology and highly trained staff delivering a dedicated customer experience,” he said.

“It is the next major step in online shopping, providing a parcel collection, returns and delivery service that has customer choice and convenience at its very heart. What’s more, we are delivery carrier and retailer agnostic so any brand can offer the Doddle service to their customers.”

Network Rail said the launch of Doddle was part of its response to changing passenger needs, but it is also intended to generate profits for reinvestment into railway infrastructure.

Robin Gisby, the Network Rail managing director, said: “More people are travelling by rail than ever before and stations have become more than just a place to wait for, or get off a train. We’ve adapted to passengers’ changing needs and now offer quality retail, food and drink at our biggest stations, such as London Waterloo.

“Introducing Doddle to stations will enable us to reinvest our profits back into the railway and is a natural next step to help passengers and people who work and live near stations, whose lives are increasingly busy and on the move.”