UK: Royal Mail to help SMEs expand business by click-and-collect trial program

The service, aimed at SMEs to expand business, is designed to meet the requirements of 20,000 SMEs who will be able to join the Post Office pick-up strategy Local Collect Plus that will also make available Sunday pick-ups.

The move will open delivery channels for customers to pick up their parcels at any of the 10,500 Post office branches. The Royal Mail has recently invested in developing API (Application Program Interface) and dispatch management tools for SMEs.

These options will give retailers access to the available Post offices before the parcel is labelled and dispatched and allows websites to integrate the Royal Mail Local Collect option on ecommerce websites.

In May 2014, the Royal Mail first announced it would be delivering within the M25 area and opening its delivery schedule to include Sundays. Click-and-collect options are notable channels for SMEs and ecommerce when customers can make purchases on a Friday, knowing they will receive their parcels on Sundays.

Nearly 70 million deliveries were made via click-and-collect services at third-party collection points in 2013, and estimations forecast 82 million in 2014. Click-and-collect and 3rd collection point is expected to grow by up to 112% to GBP 6.5 billion by 2018.