Nightline is expanding its network of delivery lockers – in response to fast uptake of the service by professionals who are keen to get access to their online orders in a way that’s convenient for them.
Just eight months after the Irish delivery company first launched its Parcel Motel service, it has launched its 100th self-service parcel terminal in a network that now covers all of Ireland’s major cities. Nightline now predicts it will have 400 terminals in use by the end of 2014, each of which includes 80 lockers.
Chief executive John Tuohy said the company had been surprised by the popularity of the service. “When we launched Parcel Motel in July, we were confident of its appeal to consumers, but even we have been surprised at the speed with which it has been adopted as preferred delivery method.
“It appears that it has proven to be particularly attractive to those individuals in full-time work who didn’t want to take days off to wait at home for deliveries but valued the opportunity to pick up purchases at a place and time of their choosing.
“Such is the rate at which ecommerce is growing in Ireland and such is the convenience of Parcel Motel that we’re adding 100 new subscribers each and every day.”
Shoppers who subscribe directly to the service can specify a Parcel Motel locker bank as their delivery address, at a cost of €3.50 per delivery – or ‘stay’. They can also choose it as a delivery point, where offered by retailers, when checking out their purchases online. Once delivered, customers receive a unique PIN number that allows them to open the locker that holds their parcel.
The service started with lockers in and around Dublin, but the network now includes cities including Cork, Limerick, Sligo, Galway and Waterford. The company is also expanding its depot network in response to growth in Ireland’s uptake of ecommerce, opening new facilities in Dublin and Tralee.
Nightline’s analysis of those using Parcel Motel shows that 71% are in full-time work, with 11% have part-time jobs. More than half were aged between 30 and 44. Some 67% said they shopped online for more items last Christmas than the year before. Fashion, toys and consumer electrical goods were the most popular of all items shipped to the locker boxes.
Our view: Key to the uptake of this locker box delivery method seems to be the ability for consumers to subscribe direct, rather than relying on retailers to adopt this. It’s an interesting contribution to the debate over whether consumers will pay for postage. Shoppers must see the charge as the cost of convenience – and are opting to pay it in order to have that convenient delivery.
Certainly, this is growing fast and successfully, a reflection of the way that putting the consumer at the heart of the business or service can pay off for ecommerce or multichannel businesses.
