Not one to stand still in the home delivery market, DPD has revealed plans to develop its own network of 2,500 parcel shops to take advantage of consumers' growing demand for click and collect.
The shops will operate under a new ‘DPD PickUp’ brand and are set to open in June.
Numark Pharmacists has been named as the first company to sign up, but DPD hopes to eventually have a pick-up location within 10 minutes of “most of the UK”.
It will offer consumers the ability to have their parcel delivered into a shop or give them another option for returning it to the sender. It will also complement DPD’s current text and email notifications, as consumers will be able to divert their delivery to a pick up point if they are not going to be home at the time of delivery specified.
DPD PickUp was revealed at the opening of the new division’s head office in Stoke-on-Trent, which was unveiled by Stoke City player Peter Odemwingie (pictured alongside DPD chief executive Dwain McDonald).
McDonald said: “Our aim is to offer a collect and return service with a difference.
"We're looking to give DPD PickUp customers an outstanding service experience - from the communication at purchase about their delivery options, right through to the PickUp shop environment and the service they receive there - which means working with high quality retail outlets who share our customer service ethos.”
“In future, we will be able to offer customers a choice between a one-hour timeslot home delivery or a DPD PickUp delivery.”