Singapore Post’s POPStation smart lockers concept has won an international accolade in Belgium.
SingPost has rolled out a network of in excess of 100 POPStations which allow online shoppers to have goods delivered to a collection point accessible 24-seven, circumventing the need to be at home or workplace to receive parcel deliveries.
The concept was judged the best concept in the Retail Customer Access category at the 16th World Mail Award 2015. It’s the third consecutive annual honour at the awards – SingPost won in the eCommerce category in 2014 and for People Management in 2013. It had previously won the top award for Mail Quality.
The World Mail Awards, the annual “Oscars” of the mail and express industry, recognise the achievements and best practices within the postal and express sector. These awards are presented to postal operators or service providers worldwide, which have been reviewed by a panel of judges comprising Universal Postal Union (UPU) members, international postal industry leaders and users.
Dr Sascha Hower, group COO of SingPost said it was encouraging to receive the prestigious international accolade.
“It recognises our investment and pioneering efforts to innovate and provide an integrated retail platform. With our POPStations we are now delivering a seamless and more convenient online shopping experience for consumers. We want to make receiving parcels as simple as possible and hopefully delight our customers in the process. POPStations are part of our effort to provide consumers a multiplicity of touchpoints and enabling merchandise returns.”
Lim Ho Kee, Chairman of SingPost, added: “This World Mail Award recognises our unending quest for innovation, productivity and customer service to bring greater value to SMEs and retail customers. We continue to have grave concerns about mail revenue decline and encourage our people to seize opportunities and use IT to serve customers in new ways. Faced with challenges like e-substitution and lifestyle changes, SingPost is on a ‘burning platform’ and we need to transform and diversify our business to remain relevant. Hence, we embarked on our transformation in 2003 after listing. SingPost’s core competency in last mile delivery and trusted brand provide us a good foundation to grow the ecommerce logistics business in Singapore and the region. The POPStation is one such example where we lead and innovate the local ecommerce landscape with an intelligent set-up for parcel delivery and returns.”
At POPStations, consumers can not only receive shipments, but easily organise returns of products for exchange, demonstrating, says SingPost, how online and mobility can help make their lives easier.
SingPost plans to expand the network to 200 within the next two to three years.
