InPost launches parcel terminal network in Britain

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Polish company InPost has officially launched its network of automated parcel locker terminals in mainland Britain.

The company currently striving to establish a network of 16,000 self-service parcel collection machines across Europe has initially launched in the UK with 100 machines.

Plans are to rapidly ramp up to a total of 2,000 units across Scotland, Wales and England by the end of 2013. Northern Ireland will not be included, as it is part of the network of InPost’s existing partner, the parcel carrier Nightline.

The network will allow any parcel carrier to deliver parcels to the World Mail Award-winning InPost lockers, and potentially any retailer to allow customers to pick up purchases from their nearest terminal.

Parcel terminals will be located in petrol stations, outside supermarkets and other publicly accessible sites, mainly outdoor so that they can be used 24 hours a day.

Simon Croft, the CEO of InPost UK, said: “We are looking at providing a service for consumers and for retailers – consumers are looking for convenience above all, even more than for low prices and speed of delivery.”

Consumers will be able to register to use their nearest InPost point as an alternative delivery location if they cannot be at home to receive a parcel. But, InPost will also be looking to integrate with e-commerce websites to offer the network as a delivery option during a purchasing transaction, using their existing carriers. The company is currently in talks with retailers and carriers about use of the network.

The network will also be available for consumers to use to return parcels to retailers, and soon consumers will be able to send any parcel from InPost machine to InPost machine.

When a parcel arrives in a locker, consumers receive a text message with a QR code that will open the locker containing their parcel. The lockers will also accept existing tracking barcodes used by retailers and carriers.

InPost’s terminals include small, medium and large lockers, with the largest locker sufficiently sized to take any product up to the size of a microwave.

Croft told Post&Parcel that the new network would be very flexible in its business model – depending on who wants to use it, varying fee systems could be used, with either the consumer, carrier or retailer paying InPost’s fee.

Estimates suggest that on parcel deliveries alone – not including returns – the network of 2,000 machines could handle 30m parcels a year. Each machine can be expanded with additional modules of lockers, so that the network could respond to the demand that emerges.

Competition

In the UK, InPost’s new network goes up against the existing ByBox network of parcel terminals, which are mainly used for business-to-business deliveries, and also the growing number of parcel shop networks – CollectPlus, myHermes, UPS Access Point and Local Letterbox.



InPost CEO Rafał Brzoska says parcel carriers may find parcel shops can’t keep up with the growth of UK e-commerce like parcel terminals can

Rafał Brzoska, the chief executive of InPost and its parent group Integer.pl, said he believed parcel terminals would be more successful than parcel shops in the UK because they offer 24-hour access, no queues and a rapid transaction.

He also suggested that if e-commerce growth continues in the UK along current lines, the nation’s parcel shops could find themselves overwhelmed.

“Suddenly these convenience stores with 100 to 150 square metres of space are finding 30% taken up by parcels, and they need to employ a single person just to manage the parcels,” Brzoska said, adding: “Yet the UK e-commerce market is growing so quickly – it is expected to double or triple in size in the coming years.”

“Those convenience stores will not be able to do it for the kind of fee they are currently doing now – on average one euro per parcel in Europe. They will want to charge EUR 2 or EUR 2.50.

“This is the biggest threat to those carriers that are providing their own parcel shops – their business model could collapse.”

The InPost CEO said at some point, the European network of parcel machines will allow cross-border deliveries.

Brzoska said InPost’s plans for the rest of this year are to expand the UK network to 2,000 machines, Poland’s network of parcel terminals from the current 750 to 1,100, and Russia’s network to 500 machines. The company is also planning on launching in Scandinavia – in Sweden and Norway – with France and Spain also in the pipeline.

“A consumer will be able to post a parcel from locker to locker anywhere in Europe for EUR 10,” the InPost CEO claimed.