"Parcel lockers are widely used in Europe, they can deliver even food. We understood that it was convenient, because customers may not be tied to the operating hours of the PUDO points (Pick Up and Drop Off) or the selected interval for home delivery. You can use the lockers all the time the business center or shopping center is open. Sometimes they close late at night or are open 24/7. The order can be picked up at any time, even at night", - says Viktoria Ulazovskaya, General Director of Lamoda in Belarus.
"The idea of using parcel lockers was discussed at Lamoda several years ago. The Belarusian market was not ready for them. By that time, Lamoda was already working with lockers in Russia, using the services of partner networks Pickpoint, QIWI. But there was no developed infrastructure in Belarus, so the idea was postponed for some time. We returned to it a year ago - and decided to create our own network of parcel lockers in partnership with the startup VSGate."
VSGate develops a cloud-based access control system that allows you to open locks with the touch of a smartphone. A visitor can forget or lose the key or access card, but at the same time most people constantly carry their phone in the pocket and can easily open the door by phone. The Lamoda parcel locker network is based on a different technical solution, but the key idea remains the same - to create a remote control system for locks.
Delivery to parcel lockers is available for orders containing up to four items. This limit is related to the size of the cells: it will hardly be convenient to place 10 boxes of shoes in them. And according to Lamoda statistics, customers in Belarus purchase on average three to four products at a time.
The order is delivered to the locker by courier: after he puts the goods into the locker and closes it, the client receives an SMS with the order number and a unique code to open the lock. Neither the courier nor any other person besides the client will be able to open the cell.
To pick up the goods, the client needs to enter the code. If the order is paid in advance, then things can be taken immediately. If not, the system will ask you to pay for the order on the spot with a credit card. The client can also use the locker to return the items that for some reason did not fit.
"After opening the cell and confirming the extraction of the order, the code becomes invalid. That means, when you enter the code again, the cell will not open. Even the courier will no longer be able to open the cell after loading the order", - explains Artem Valmus CEO of VSGate.
So far, Lamoda has installed three lockers in business centers and shopping centers in Minsk. First of all, they are focused on people who work there or live nearby, - says Victoria Ulazovskaya.
Parcel Lockers Lamoda Minsk
- Business Center "Sky Towers", st. Dombrovskaya, 9-2, 1st floor. Open 24/7. Cell dimensions (W * H * D cm): 40 * 18 * 60; 40 * 35 * 60;
- Business Center "Royal Plaza", Pobediteley avenue, 7A, 1st floor. Open daily from 06.00 to 01.00. Cell dimensions (W * H * D cm): 40 * 18 * 60; 40 * 35 * 60;
- Trade Center "Globo", st. Umanskaya, 54, 1st floor. Open daily from 09.00 to 23.00. Cell dimensions (W * H * D cm): 40 * 18 * 60; 40 * 35 * 60.
Delivery terms:
- delivery time - within 2 days from the date specified when placing the order;
- delivery cost - free for any order amount;
- payment methods - prepayment or credit card upon receipt;
- order volume - no more than 4 items ;
- shelf life - 2 days.
Lamoda already uses parcel lockers in Russia. But the difference is that these parcel lockers are an independant network, so they can be used by multiple retailers. In Belarus, they were developed specifically for Lamoda, so their interface is familiar to the company's customers.
In the future, Lamoda plans to expand its network of parcel lockers in Minsk and other regions. However, the number of lockers will depend on how the market accepts them.
"We hope it is ready, because from the point of view of scaling it is a convenient model. For example, in Minsk we do not have PUDO points in Serebryanka or in the area of Partizansky Prospekt, because it is difficult to find suitable premises there. When using lockers all you need is an area of 2 sq.meters. It will be easier to find such a place", - explains Victoria Ulazovskaya.
Other parcel locker networks in Belarus are being rolled out by Belpochta (20 lockers, 11 in Minsk, one in each regional center, as well as in Orsha, Lida, Borisov and Bobruisk, most lockers installed near post offices or in large shopping centers) and DPD (10 lockers in Minsk in large shopping centers, in hypermarkets). A total of 30 parcel lockers have been installed in Belarus until today, 21 of them in Minsk.
Despite the presence of a network of parcel lockers among the existing express delivery operators, Lamoda began to build its own system in Belarus with a clearly more technological solution than that of Belpochta and DPD. So far, delivery of online orders through parcel lockers hasn’t been so popular in Belarus. But it starts to change now.
Read the original article by bel.biz here