Swiss Post launch YellowCube logistics solution
Online retailers can now outsource all of their distance selling activities to Swiss Post, following the launch of the YellowCube logistics solution. Its centrepiece is a fully automated storage and picking facility. This allows Swiss Post to handle everything from order processing, marketing, payment, end-to-end logistics and customer service. Swiss Post delivers parcels in the evenings and on Saturdays or to parcel terminals for collection around the clock. And customers can specify online where Swiss Post should send their missed parcels. Returns are collected by the mail carrier directly from the customer’s doorstep. This unique service in Switzerland underscores Swiss Post’s strategic focus on the ecommerce market.
The ecommerce market is growing yearly by 5 to 10 percent in Switzerland. Shipping volumes are growing, online shoppers expect rapid delivery times and the number of returns is rising. Such trends create major logistical challenges for online retailers, which is why the demand for outsourcing solutions on the market has grown. After a two-year development phase, YellowCube began operating in April 2014. The solution handles product storage and picking, parcel packing and the entire returns management system. Together with the logistics services that are upstream and downstream of YellowCube processes, (goods collection at the suppliers, as well as shipping and return shipping),
The centrepiece of YellowCube is a fully automated storage and picking facility at the Swiss Post logistics centre in Oftringen. This is where online retailers’ goods are stored. When an order comes in, robots transport the relevant item to an employee, who then packs it and encloses the necessary documents, flyers and vouchers. Online customers do not send returns back to the retailer, but instead to Oftringen where Swiss Post checks the goods and stores them accordingly. Such automation helps create rapid online retail logistics processes, allowing orders to be placed even later with next-day delivery, for example. It is online SMEs that benefit most from YellowCube’s competitive logistics infra- structure and efficiency gains that are normally only available to large providers with spe- cific know-how.
To generate additional growth, Swiss Post is increasingly offering its customers products from a single source, comprising services from its various divisions. Its strategic focus in the coming years will be on the ecommerce market.
