Finnish postal operator Posti today (November 1) opened an innovative service store in Helsinki offering consumers not only parcel collection and shipping but also the chance to try on and return clothes, and other services.
The store, called simply ‘Box’, lies on Keskuskatu, a prime shopping street in the Finnish capital, and is targeted at consumers and online retailers. The new premises are equipped with fitting rooms, a giant parcel locker and a digital kiosk.
Any customer of Posti can have their order delivered to Box and pick it up, for instance, on their way to work or in-between a shopping spree in the city center. The purpose of Box is to make it as easy as possible to pick up and send online orders.
“The new space on Keskuskatu is an accurate illustration of the historically quick change of e-commerce and Posti. Due to the growth in online and C2C sales, a significant share of the consumers’ visits to Posti have to do with collecting or sending parcels. This is why we need to change. Box is our response to the growth of e-commerce and to the new consumer habits of the Finnish people. Box is a great example of how Posti is reforming,” said Posti’s Head of Customer Experience and Channels, Kaisa Ilola.
“If a customer has placed an order for clothes online, they can try on the clothes straight away. If the clothes fit, that’s great. If they don’t fit, the customer can return them immediately without having to go home first. Other kinds of orders can also be opened at Box straight away. The customers can leave the packaging materials here to be recycled or used by other customers. The consumer behavior of the Finnish people has changed significantly. Before, there was a piece missing between the online store and home. Box was created to fill in the missing piece,” she explained.
In addition, Box offers online retailers space to promote products and hold events. The store has also been designed to be as climate-friendly as possible as it lies close to many customers’ daily routes and has excellent public transportation connections but cannot be reached by car.
“Box is a space for both consumers and online retailers. Box will become a physical store in the heart of Helsinki for many of the domestic and foreign online retailers. Online retailers can organize their own events, pop up events and sell their own products at Box. Our display windows are also available for their use,” Ilola said.
Posti’s own digital services are also being tried out at Box. For instance, parcels and letters can be sent via the new self-service terminal, where the customer can pay for shipping and speak to Posti’s customer service team via a video connection, if necessary. The self-service terminals are currently being tested, as they will be used in the OmaPosti kiosks that will be opened in the future.
The opening followed this week’s announcement of the group’s Q3 results, which showed better sales and profits. Posti Group’s net sales increased by 8% to €381.2 million in the July – September 2019 quarter and last year’s slight operating loss was turned into a €10 million profit. The parcel volume in Finland and the Baltic countries increased by 13% while the number of addressed letters decreased by 12%
Turkka Kuusisto, interim President and CEO, commented: “Financially we had a good third quarter in 2019; we improved both our net sales and adjusted operating result compared to the previous year third quarter. We have made good progress during the last 12 months in modifying our cost structure and at the same time being able to create new growth. This shows that our chosen strategy is working and that our long-term efforts have also reflected positively in our financial results so far.”
He continued: “Our Parcel and eCommerce business’s strong growth continued during the third quarter. The labor union actions concerning the negotiations on the collective agreement did have an impact on the last month of the quarter, but the quarter-result was still good. We have had strong sales development in our Parcel and eCommerce business during the year.
“The Logistics Solutions business continued to grow in the third quarter. The growth is attributable to the Transval acquisition earlier in the year. We also made good progress during the third quarter in improving our profitability in all our logistics businesses.”
Looking ahead, however, Kuusisto warned that any possible industrial action during the fourth quarter could hit the company’s revenues and profits. The postal union PAU has threatened a two-week strike in mid-November in an ongoing dispute over restructuring measures.
