A new channel for parcel delivery
Itella is the first in Finland to test an automated parcel terminal, which offers a new way for consumers to pick up their parcels. The three-month pilot project will be launched in cooperation with Hobby Hall on 3 March in Itäkeskus, Helsinki.
The automated parcel terminal increases the number of ways in which consumers can receive parcels. In the future, consumers can choose to pick up a parcel from the post office, from an automated parcel terminal or even have it delivered to their home.
"As a market leader of parcel services in Finland, we want to constantly develop our services to meet current and future demand, affected by, for example, the growth in online shopping, changes in consumers' shopping behaviour and a pressing rhythm of life. Our customers have expressed their desire for new and flexible ways to receive parcels. In other European countries, for example Germany, the automated parcel terminal has received positive feedback," explains Aku Happo, Director of Itella's Express and Parcel Business.
"The automated parcel terminal offers the opportunity to pick up a parcel at a time that best suits the customer, even at night. The terminals are usually located along consumers' daily routes, for example in shopping centres and at traffic junctions. It may take no more than 30 seconds to pick up a parcel from a terminal," Happo continues.
Typically, an automatic parcel terminal has 50-100 parcel lockers, the size of which can be altered. The customers receive an SMS informing them of a parcel that has arrived and with which the locker in the automated parcel terminal can be opened. The safety and usability of the terminal's interface corresponds to that of an automatic teller machine.
The pilot project is realised together with Hobby Hall, the distance selling market leader in Finland, and its customers. Those selected to participate in the pilot study will receive an SMS message, which they can use to pick up a free parcel from Hobby Hall at the Itäkeskus terminal.
As part of the pilot project, Itella will perform an extensive survey of the service needs of consumers and distance selling companies and create a terminal service concept that meets the actual Finnish market demands. "After the pilot project is over, we will introduce an automated parcel terminal operations model suitable for the Finnish markets and announce our future plans," says Aku Happo.
The English company Business Direct is in charge of the technical realisation of the automated parcel terminal.
For further information, please contact:
Aku Happo, Director, Itella Logistics, tel. +358 40-5627065
