The Austrian city of Salzburg is investing heavily in parcel lockers to create a network of alternative delivery points with a big order for 1,000 lockers from Polish supplier InPost over the next five years.
InPost said today that Salzburg AG, which provides the city with services such as electricity, water, heating, communications and public transport, has selected the Polish company as its strategic supplier of parcel locker technology. The contract value was not disclosed.
Within the next five years, 1,000 parcel lockers will be deployed throughout the city, the first of which will appear in July 2019 at key locations. In comparison, a CEP-Research online search found only about half a dozen Austrian Post Post24 collection boxes and just three DHL Packstations in the city, which has a population of just over 152,000.
It was not immediately clear if the lockers will be a carrier-neutral network for the entire city or whether InPost will work with specific delivery partners to the lockers. An InPost spokeswoman told CEP-Research on Friday that Salzburg AG would take the decision on this issue.
InPost said that in order to satisfy the exacting criteria specified by the city of Salzburg it will supply its very latest model ‘NEW FM’. The partnership also commits InPost to provide know-how and an after-sales services team.
The Polish company claims that parcel lockers solve the expensive “last mile delivery problem” as in comparison to traditional courier services, parcel lockers can reduce delivery costs by around 30%.
“Parcel lockers are more efficient – an InPost driver can deliver ten parcels in the time it takes a traditional courier to deliver one – and more environmentally friendly. Speed of delivery has also been a crucial factor in parcel lockers popularity for e-shops – approx. 98% of shipments are delivered the day after they are registered,” the company added.
Rafal Brzoska, CEO of InPost, commented: "Europe is beginning to appreciate the convenience of service automation – not only in the delivery and collection of parcels – but in other areas where our technology can be implemented. It seems that labour supply issues, coupled with the unwavering, double-digit growth of e-commerce, will demand automation and InPost’s parcel lockers are perfectly placed to satisfy this need.
“In Poland, InPost’s parcel lockers are very popular and I am confident that the residents of Salzburg will also appreciate the availability, convenience and simplicity of such services. InPost’s parcel lockers meet the exacting standards of our Austrian partner – confirming our position as a global leader in parcel locker technology."
Salzburg represents another step in InPost’s on-going expansion – in recent years, InPost has provided parcel lockers to, amongst others, operators in: United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Iceland, Ireland, Colombia, Brazil and Australia.
In September 2018, InPost and KKR – an American private equity investor – finalised an agreement securing €125 million financing for InPost over five and a half years. Moreover, 2018 witnessed Advent International and InPost investing PLN 250 million in parcel locker infrastructure and the development of courier services.
