Filling stations set to act as parcel hubs
Businesses and Internet and catalogue retailers are being targeted by Texaco, which claims its new RelayStar package pick-up and return is unique in European petrol retailing.
RelayStar is being used initially to get spare parts to field engineers. IBM has been trialling the system with 105 customer engineers in north London since April. They place orders for parts to be delivered to a nominated service station for collection the following day.
IBM claimed the service would help engineers increase their average number of customer calls from four to five per day because they will spend less time travelling.
Parts that need to be returned to the IBM warehouse can be dropped off at a participating service station for direct transfer back to the company.
Texaco is working with carriers such as UPS, Securicor, Parcelforce and Vision to manage the return process.
“The ‘last mile’ delivery of parcels is a major challenge for logistics departments, carriers, e-tailers and catalogue sales companies, ” said Philippe Brasseur, general manager of RelayStar.
“This service addresses a genuine delivery need and provides a fast, convenient, technologically advanced and cost-effective delivery solution.” RelayStar is being piloted at 935 locations in the UK and 430 Benelux sites. A spokeswoman said small B2B projects were under way in Belgium.
“This sector is more developed, but if we can get it right, bearing in mind the time-specific nature of the business, the time will be right to tackle B2C, ” she said.
“Most stations are open 24 hours a day and it is a simple transaction for staff to deal with. All the goods are barcoded and stored in a secure back office. When people turn up they will have a reference number if they are private customers, or a swipe card in the case of B2B.
