Record Christmas parcel volumes for CollectPlus
Over half a million parcels handled over the festive period within its network of over 4,500 corner shops.
The company says that its strong year-on-year performance reflects the Christmas online successes for retailers.
CollectPlus enables consumers to send and return packages via their local corner shop. The British parcel delivery company saw over half a million parcels returned and delivered through its network in the seven week period up to 5th January 2012, up over 250% compared to the same period in 2010.
CollectPlus also recorded an active start to 2012, as a result of customers returning unwanted Christmas goods and taking advantage of New Year sales, with Tuesday 3rd January recorded as the busiest day of the festive period. CollectPlus, available through selected stores within the national PayPoint network, has expanded its number of participating shops by a fifth in the past six months , taking it to a third of the size of the Post Office’s parcel delivery estate.
The Christmas TV campaign from Shop Direct Group’s Very.co.uk brand encouraged consumers to use its Click & Collect service, which allows customers to pick up parcels from their local CollectPlus shop. This focus has contributed to CollectPlus now handling 1 in every 5 parcels sent to customers by Very.co.uk.
The convenience and long opening hours of the CollectPlus network was further proven on Christmas Eve, as customers used the service to pick-up last minute presents en route to visiting family and friends. Indeed, customers took full advantage of CollectPlus’ network of 400 petrol station forecourt stores, with one customer collection made after 1am on Christmas Day, demonstrating the usefulness of the network as people travelled within the UK. On the flipside, the first return on Christmas Day was recorded at 9.06am in Andover, 40 minutes earlier than in 2010.
Mark Lewis, CEO of Collect+ comments, “With online sales being the success story of Christmas 2011, consumers are increasingly looking for delivery options that fit in with their busy lives. The soaring volumes CollectPlus experienced thisChristmas demonstrates that customers are demanding ease and flexibility from retailers in delivery and returns. That convenience is why so many retailers are coming to us and why we’re experiencing this level of growth. We now have over 100 retail brands taking advantage of our returns service and as we move into 2012, our next area of focus will be to further develop our Click& CollectPlus service, already successfully used over the Christmas period by House of Fraser, Very and M&MDirect.
CollectPlus is a joint venture between retail payment network PayPoint and parcel delivery company, Yodel.
Mark Lewis will be speaking on the topic ‘Simplifying Your Multichannel Returns And Refunds Strategy To Improve Customer Experience And Improve Stock Availability’ at the Retail Bulletin’s Multichannel Retailing Summit February 1st 2012. Click here for full details and registration.
