DHL will set up 500 Packstations at Lidl supermarkets across Germany this year to extend its network of self-service parcel lockers to 4,200 locations, and with more to follow.
Overall, Germany’s largest parcel carrier aims to reach a total of 4,700 locations and also add 500 more parcel shops to offer customers a denser network of alternative delivery points. At present, there are 3,700 Packstation lockers with about 370,000 compartments in more than 1,600 towns and cities across the country.
Under the strategic partnership announced yesterday, German consumers will be able to combine shopping at the participating Lidl stores and collecting parcels from the DHL Packstation. The cooperation is designed to make shopping more convenient for customers and potentially generate additional footfall for the stores.
Moreover, in a separate test in the Rhein-Neckar region, DHL will deliver goods ordered online from Lidl to 80 stores for collection by customers. The parcel operator already delivers Lidl online orders to home addresses and to Packstations across Germany.
René Engel, member of the management board at Lidl Germany, said: "Nobody wants to spend their free time covering long distances. With the DHL Packstations, we offer our customers a further service directly at our branches. In this way, we underscore our claim to be the leading shopping centres and to bring the digital world directly to the Lidl stores."
Martin Linde, sales director at Deutsche Post DHL’s Post & Parcel Germany division, added: “The partnership will benefit all parties, and especially our customers, as 500 more DHL Packstations will be installed at easily accessible, attractive locations. The new Packstations are an important part of the promise we made to our customers to further improve service quality."
In March this year, Deutsche Post DHL announced a major ‘quality offensive’ with €150 million worth of investment in its mail and parcels network in Germany. This includes 5,000 extra workers and the addition of 1,000 more Packstations and 500 parcel shops or retail outlets.
A DP DHL spokeswoman told CEP-Research today: “We are optimistic that the majority of the 1,000 new DHL Packstations announced in March 2019 will be connected to the network this year. The Lidl cooperation is an important step towards fulfilling our customer promise of around 1,000 new Packstations.”
But she cautioned that it was important to find “suitable locations that are easy for our customers to reach” as well as to reach agreements with the property owners.
DHL, which described the Lidl deal as “one of the biggest strategic partnerships with a retailer”, already has long-standing similar Packstation partnerships with other supermarket chains such as Aldi, Rewe and Penny (the Rewe discount chain).
In general, DHL’s Packstations are located at highly-frequented retail and public locations, such as supermarkets, train stations and petrol stations, enabling customers to collect their parcels while shopping or on their way to or from work.
The spokeswoman declined to disclose how many parcels DHL delivers directly (or re-routes) to the parcel lockers. But she added: “DHL Packstations are enjoying more and more popularity, which is why we are putting about 1,000 new locations into operation. About 12 million customers are now registered for the service.”
Moreover, the DHL ‘preferred parcel’ (Wunschpaket) services, which enable customers to select their delivery preferences, “are a very attractive alternative to traditional front-door delivery, which help to ensure that a parcel reaches its recipient directly at the first attempt,” she added.
Former DHL Parcel chief Achim Dünnwald told CEP-Research in an interview last year that about 95% of DHL’s B2C parcels in Germany are delivered to residential addresses, with the remainder going to alternative delivery points. In 2018, DHL Parcel handled 1.48 billion parcels (B2B and B2C) in Germany, according to the group’s annual report.
