by Sebastian Vinberg, Strategic Carrier Partnership Manager
The last mile delivery of a product's journey has always been a complex puzzle for logistics companies. Rising consumer expectations in post-purchase experience haven’t made things any easier.
Today, customers want speed, convenience, and a small carbon footprint, which means traditional delivery methods are being stretched to the limits.
Enter the automated parcel machine (APM). They have gained traction since the early 2000s and is taking off as ecommerce continues to boom and parcel delivery management becomes increasingly influential.
nShift and DHL - partners for parcels
This is certainly the case in Germany, which is one of the most advanced regions in Europe when it comes to the adoption of parcel lockers. Hardly surprising when the inventor of APMs (or Packstations as they are branded) and key nShift partner in the region is a household name in deliveries - DHL.
DHL has around 9,000 Packstations throughout Germany. Indeed, according to market research, 90% of German residents lived within ten minutes of a DHL Packstation. A figure that demonstrates the growing popularity and convenience of out of home (OOH) deliveries, including APMs.
Consumers want choice and convenience
According to recent nShift research, in 2023, the percentage of online shopping baskets being abandoned rose to 70% globally for the first time in a decade. This figure was even higher for mobile shopping at 85%. Some 14% of respondents say a lack of convenient delivery choice at checkout is one of their top three reasons for abandoning an online basket. The research also found that having a choice of delivery options, such as collection lockers, is important to almost three quarters (71%) of shoppers.
While home delivery remains the preferred method of choice for consumers receiving their products, the declining home office trend has seen its popularity fall by 10% in Europe within the last year. At the same time, the number of shoppers who want their parcels to be stored for collection in a private, secure location away from the home (22%) or in a DHL Packstation (14%) is growing.
According to Thomas Kempkes, Teamlead P&P Partner Management at DHL, “From cutting cart abandonment and carbon emissions to providing improvements to customer choice and experience, the popularity of out of home deliveries is only going one way. For retailers to keep pace with this trend, it’s vital they integrate options like DHL Packstation into their delivery and returns offering because the shopper sentiment is clear - give consumers the delivery options they want or they’ll go elsewhere.”
Popularity of parcel lockers
Looking at the benefits, it’s easy to see why there is such a groundswell of popularity when it comes to parcel lockers. Benefits include:
- Fewer abandoned purchases - Having the desired delivery method available in the online store not only means satisfied customers, but also more sales
- More turnover - shoppers are more likely to order if they are sure they will receive the goods on first delivery, even if they are not at home
- Lower return rate - if the delivery rate increases, your costs for returns management and reshipment also decrease
- More climate-friendly delivery - by cutting multiple deliveries, parcel lockers can save around 30% of CO2 emissions in the last mile compared to regular doorstep delivery
- Better consumer experience - packages can be delivered, collected and returned around the clock and whenever is convenient for the customer improving the post-purchase experience
- No cost to the consumer - shoppers can access the network of DHL Packstations for free. All the need to do is register
Connections at the checkout
nShift connects retailers to more out of home delivery locations than any other provider to enable the best delivery experience.
Exceptional experience management is built on the world’s largest carrier library. With a ready-made library of 1000+ direct carrier connections, nShift connects retailers with more than a million PUDO locations at checkout.
