DHL Express has announced a partnership agreement with French start-up You2You as it seeks to better its last-mile delivery performance in France's biggest metropolitan areas.
The Deutsche Post DHL subsidiary delivers on average 25,000 parcels to French homes daily, rising to as many as 40,000 parcels daily in the run-up to Christmas and expects these figures to grow rapidly in the years to come. B2C parcels now represent one in three of all DHL Express shipments delivered in France, a ratio which is set to increase to one in two parcels over the next five years.
“Faced with the boom in e-commerce and in order to meet its ambitious objective of zero (CO2) emissions by 2050 set by its parent company, last mile logistics has become one of the major strategic and commercial challenges of DHL Express and is why the firm is exploring new, innovative delivery modes,” a company statement reads.
You2You's 'Relayed' offering allows DHL Express to funnel parcel flows into city centre-located last-mile parcel delivery points operated by the start-up's partners. Each morning, DHL vehicles drop off parcels at the outlets which are then delivered in the vicinity by self-employed couriers using a fleet of bicycles, the end customer having booked a specific delivery slot.
The parcels are delivered from four points in Paris and its inner suburbs and also from Lille, in northern France. The objective is to have a minimum of 15 last-mile parcel delivery points in service by the end of 2018 with Bordeaux, Nancy and Marseilles joining the list of cities served by the DHL Express/You2You partnership. There are plans to extend the service to a further 15 French cities in 2019.
Commenting on the partnership with You2You, DHL Express France's president and CEO, Philippe Prétat, said: “In adopting new delivery modes, the aim is to increase our performance, bring even more flexibility to delivery options and to improve the experience and satisfaction of our customers.”
It will allow DHL Express to attain a B2C home delivery rate, at the first attempt, of around 97% – a score currently unequalled by traditional logistics models.
For his part, You2You CEO, Pierre-Emmanuel Jan, underlined that the confidence shown in You2You by DHL Express and the volume of parcels that the tie-up will generate “confirms our belief that our flexible logistics solutions represent an innovative way forward regarding last mile delivery. As for the size of our business community of partners, it has the agility which DHL Express is looking for to improve the execution of the last mile”.
