UPS expands consumer e-commerce delivery services My Choice and Access Point
UPS has announced plans to expand its delivery management service UPS My Choice and its parcel collection network UPS Access Point in North America and Europe. The world’s largest package delivery firm is further aligning itself with the global boom in online shopping, after various moves most recently including the acquisition of cross-border shipping firm i-parcel.
The central philosophy behind its expansion is that “only thing consumers dislike more than missing a package is having to rearrange their lives to retrieve it”.
UPS said yesterday it will expand the availability of UPS My Choice to 15 more countries in North America and Europe. The service launched in the US in 2011 now has more than 10m consumers using it to schedule parcel deliveries or redirect items to alternative addresses.
The service will soon be available in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
At the same time, the company will expand its parcel shop network, UPS Access Point, from Europe to America with the opening of locations in New York City and Chicago, prior to a rollout to other metropolitan markets across the US during 2015.
UPS Access Point grew out of the European firm Kiala, which was acquired by UPS in 2012, and now comprises more than 12,000 outlets covering markets including the UK, Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands.
Expectations are that the UPS Access Point network will grow to 20,000 locations in Europe and the Americas by the end of 2015.
Both UPS Access Point and UPS My Choice will be available in Poland, Italy, Canada and Mexico later this month, the company said.
“Personalising” the experience
Alan Gershenhorn, UPS executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said: “UPS My Choice and the UPS Access Point network are a powerful duo that give e-tailers new solutions for personalising their customer’s package delivery experience.
“UPS My Choice status alerts have industry-leading e-mail open rates and are extremely valuable for retailers that want to extend special customer offers or communications in addition to the shipment delivery notification and confirmation. We have more than 375 shippers in the US utilizing this feature, including some of the most widely recognized names in retail,” he said.
With the expansion of the UPS Access Point network in the US, parcel recipients with a missed delivery will receive a card stating that their package can be collected at their nearest Access Point.
UPS said its new locations would be located about 10 minutes or less away from a consumer’s delivery address. So far there are already 300 UPS Access Points in New York and Chicago, with self-service parcel lockers also available in metropolitan Chicago.
Pre-labeled and prepaid packages can also be left at UPS Access Point locations for collection.
Unlike branches of The UPS Store, UPS Access Points are services run by existing retail businesses, such as convenience stores or refueling stations. However, UPS Access Points are set to be included with 4,400 The UPS Store outlets across the United States from January 2015.
