DPD welcomes Royal Mail’s Sunday
delivery trial but urges retailers to look for a full Sunday service with all
the trimmings
DPD has welcomed Royal
Mail’s announcement that it intends to trial Sunday deliveries. However, as
DPD’s CEO Dwain McDonald points out, there is a big difference between Royal
Mail’s ‘trial’ and DPD’s full, UK-wide Sunday service with advanced notification
for recipients and aone
hour timeslot delivery window with real-time ‘in-flight’ delivery options.DPD announced on 1stMay
that it will launch the UK’s first full nationwide express Sunday delivery
service, covering over 98% of the UK population in July. The move will help
create more than 500 new jobs around the UK as DPD’s depot network expands to
accommodate a seven day week.
The service will include
DPD’s one hourPredicttimeslot
deliveries, where parcel recipients are notified by text or email of their one
hour delivery timeslot in advance, and can then track their driver in real-time
around his route, all the way to their front door.
Dwain McDonald, DPD’s CEO
said; “I’m not surprised by this announcement from Royal Mail and it is
one that we would welcome. We’ve had a fantastic response from retailers
wanting to set-up Sunday deliveries. Many of them have run 24/7 operations for
some time, but the parcel volumes now being discussed mean that Sunday
deliveries have become very viable for us. Having Royal Mail on board with new
innovations like this can only help to spread the word and accelerate the
adoption of Sunday deliveries in the UK.
“We ran Sunday delivery
trials in London and Manchester earlier in the year and the reaction from
recipients was overwhelmingly positive. In addition, 77% said that Sunday
deliveries would positively influence their online purchasing decisions in
future, which is a great message to send out to retailers thinking about their
service offering.
“While Royal Mail’s
trial is significant, I believe our offering is light years ahead and far more
appealing to recipients and retailers. WithPredict,
recipients get a text or email notification the day before and then an exact
notification of their one hour delivery slot, so that they can plan their
Sunday and not be waiting around all day for a parcel. Our research suggests
that this kind of smart service will be warmly welcomed as it is more in
keeping with people’s lifestyles at the weekend.”
DPD’s new service will mean
that, for the first time, DPD will be able to collect from business customers
on a Saturday for next-day delivery on Sunday. Equally, on a Friday, online
retailers will now be able to specify either Saturday or Sunday delivery.
Deliveries will be made between 9am and 5pm on a Sunday and DPD’s network of
more than 50 UK depots will be open during those hours.
Footnote:DPD recently announced its most
ambitious expansion plans to date with the development of 15 new depots in the
UK in 2014, including three new ‘super-depots’ capable of handling 25,000
parcels a day. Construction of DPD’s new £100m parcel hub at Hinckley
Commercial Park in the East Midlands is well underway. The facility, which will
be the largest of its kind in Europe and capable of handling 70,000 parcels an
hour, is on schedule to be completed in 2015, creating up to 1,000 permanent
full-time jobs.
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