Courier company launches after-hours delivery options

Internet Retailing

30th Mar 2017

Courier company CouriersPlease is looking to maximise its chances of successful first-time delivery, with the launch of multiple after-hours delivery options and new parcel redirection options.

Quick but flexible delivery continues to be a challenge for many e-commerce companies, even though research shows it plays a crucial role in the customer experience.

A recent study found that while 29 per cent of Aussie online shoppers make an online purchase at least every two weeks, 45 per cent abandon shopping carts due to concerns with delivery.

“Flexible deliveries are important to the growth of the online shopping industry. In our experience, online shoppers commonly nominate their home address for deliveries knowing they won’t be home to receive them, because more often than not, they have no other choice,” said Mark McGinley, CEO of CouriersPlease.

CouriersPlease is looking to address those concerns with the addition of POPPoints. These comprise of nominated retail outlets (POPShops), such as newsagents, petrol stations or convenience stores, and parcel lockers (POPStations).

POPShops operate for extended hours, seven days a week, allowing consumers to collect parcels at a time that suits them, where it suits them. Most POPStations are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Customers can choose to have their parcel delivered to a POPPoint at the time of purchase. They also have the added flexibility of redirecting their parcel via email, if they realise they won’t be at home or work at the time of delivery.

They can nominate a neighbour, nearby POPPoint, or any other address, or give authority to leave the parcel without a signature via email. They can also lodge returns online and then drop their parcel at a POPShop after hours or on weekends, or at a POPStation at any time.

“By the end of the year, CouriersPlease will have 1000 POPPoints, and will continue to grow them. These new offerings will not only benefit online shoppers, but they will ease the burden for retailers and businesses sending products across the country and internationally,” McGinley said.

CouriersPlease is used by major retailers in Australia and overseas and has delivered more than 17 million parcels annually Australia-wide and internationally, during 2016.