DPD expanding operations in Russia’s growth market

Parcel delivery firm DPD is expanding its operations in Russia to respond to growth in the country’s parcel shipping. The international subsidiary of La Poste’s GeoPost Group has opened new regional offices in Saransk, Mordovia, and in Makhachkala, Dagestan, and has also opened a new call centre operating in Moscow and Novosibirsk.

The company said Saransk and Makhachkala were the largest industrial centres in the Mordovia and Dagestan republics of western Russia, developing rapidly themselves while also offering favourable locations as hubs to serve the surrounding regions.

The new regional offices are connected with the unified DPD information network, offering a range of traditional services including standard and express delivery of parcels and goods to any location in Russia.

Leonid Zondberg, the commercial director of DPD in Russia, said: “The development strategy of DPD in Russia involves opening branches or representative offices in those areas where our clients have business interests and the need for transportation and logistics services of a high standard.

“Convenient, high quality, diverse – this is how you can describe the portfolio of logistics solutions offered by DPD in any region of the country,” added Zondberg.

Call centre

The new unified call centre operation is now offering a dedicated toll-free telephone line for customer calls from anywhere in Russia.

The company first opened the facility in October, with 38 operators based in Moscow and 12 based in Novosibirsk, Russia’s third biggest city. The Moscow office provides services to customers in central, southern and north-west regions of Russia, while the Novosibirsk office works with customers in eastern areas, the Urals, Siberia and the Russian Far East.

DPD said the new centre was partly set up in response to the growth in distance-selling, and that in the coming months a special unit is being established within the centre specifically tailored towards online merchants and their customers. The project should be completed by July 2012.

Natalia Tishkova, the director of customer service at DPD Russia, said the new call centre was one of the most important divisions of the company, since so much customer loyalty and the image of DPD as a company depended on it.

“Our clients’ businesses very often depend on the quality of responses to calls,” she said.

“This is why we are paying special attention to the professionalism of operators at the call centre – all of them undergo special training and instruction, which helps them to build a good rapport with clients and give advice in a professional manner.”

DPD has been operating in Russia for more than 15 years, though prior to 2007 operated under the Armadillo and Bizpak brands.

With a staff of more than 1,000, the company delivered around 6m parcels in 2010, with a fleet of 500 vehicles and a network of 60 terminals and branches.