Post Office trials new home shopping returns drop off points at over 150 new locations
The Post Office has announced a trial of over 150 new drop off points for Home Shopping customers returning orders using Royal Mail’s pre-paid returns services. The sites which will commence roll out in the coming weeks are set to make it easier for customers to return orders placed during the peak period for Home shopping in the run up to Christmas. Through trialling these new drop off points, alongside its current branches, the Post Office wants to encourage new customers to use its services by providing greater convenience and choice as to where and when they return their orders.
In addition to taking returns into one of the Post Office’s 11,500 branches people will now have the choice to send their returns through these additional drop off points. Making sure they apply the pre-paid Royal Mail returns label provided by the retailer. The new drop off points will be based in existing retail outlets such as garages and convenience stores the majority of which will be open seven days a week.
The UK’s Home Shopping Market continues to grow with the value of the e-commerce market expected to increase from ￡91bn in 2013 to ￡107bn1 in 2014, with a trusted returns service being a core element of any online retailers offer.
Martin George Chief Commercial Officer, Post Office said: “Around one in ten online orders2 are returned so retailers need to ensure they provide a convenient, easy and reliable returns network. It’s a growing market and one in which the Post Office, through its unrivalled reach, is the market leader.
“We know people want the flexibility to choose where and when they return home shopping orders. We have the UK’s largest and most trusted returns network. Through trialling these new drop off points we want to make it easier for even more people to access our network by giving greater choice when retuning items.”
The Post Office is changing, introducing longer opening hours across its network. Almost 2000 of its branches are now open on Sundays, and over 5000 branches offer extended hours for customers totalling an extra 150,000 extra hours a week. It has also introduced over 500 self-service kiosks into its larger branches.
Nick Landon, Managing Director of Royal Mail Parcels, said: “Post Office’s trial supports Royal Mail’s drive to be customer responsive and provide more options for our parcel customers, including online shoppers. Online shoppers want as easy a returns experience as possible and Post Office’s trial provides even greater flexibility for customers to access Royal Mail’s Pre-paid Returns service made available by many online retailers.
The Post Office and Royal Mail recently announced that its ‘click & collect’ service, Local Collect will be available to 20,000 SME customers. The service enables the UK’s small and medium sized online retailers to offer customers a collection service from any of 10,500 Post Office branches. Over 50,000 SMEs have signed up to the Post Office’s fast track Drop & Go mails service since its launch last year.
1IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index (Dec 2013)
2UK e-retail market growth, Verdict Research (August 2014)
