Quadient and Major Parcel Delivery Player Relais Colis Sign Strategic Partnership to Roll-Out 500 Parcel Lockers in French Retail Stores
Paris, April 13, 2021
Quadient (Euronext Paris: QDT), a leader in helping businesses create meaningful customer connections through digital and physical channels, and the second largest global provider of parcel locker solutions, announced today a strategic partnership with Relais Colis, a major player in parcel delivery to consumers in France. Through the partnership, Quadient will drive the roll-out of its new Parcel Pending Lite automated lockers to large and medium-sized retail partners of the Relais Colis network in France.
During the presentation of the second phase of its strategic plan on March 30, Quadient shared its ambition to continue to expand its network of parcel lockers in the world’s largest e-commerce markets, with a target of more than 25,000 units installed by the end of 2023. Quadient has accelerated its network expansion with the launch of its locker solution for the property management market, in Q3 2020 in the UK and as recently as Q1 2021 in France.
In 2020, online product sales have increased in France by an estimated +32% (FEVAD), leading to a sharp increase in parcel volumes: more than 1 billion parcels were shipped in France last year, with successive lock-downs causing unprecedented peaks in online sales, as in other countries around the world. To ensure the proper delivery to recipients, the number of pick-up points has grown—particularly among large and medium retail stores—but they are now overwhelmed by the influx of packages. Quadient’s Parcel Pending Lite technology which is modular, easy to install and convenient to use, helps retail outlets free up storage space and better manage parcel flows by speeding up collections for an enhanced customer experience.
Through an agreement for 500 units to be progressively installed in France over three years, Relais Colis is trusting Quadient in what will be one of the first large-scale deployments of the new Parcel Pending Lite unit after its global launch in 2020. This innovative and patented solution provides multiple benefits to Relais Colis, to the stores where it will be installed and to online shoppers.
“Last year, we experienced strong growth in our parcel locker activity, driven by the growth of e-commerce and increased customer expectations for safer parcel retrieval, particularly with the restrictions posed by the health crisis,” said Geoffrey Godet, CEO at Quadient. “Our subscription-based business model gives an open and easy access to our parcel lockers to carriers, retailers and property management businesses of all sizes.”
An easy and efficient operation
Relais Colis drivers are responsible for loading parcels into the locker via a mobile application. In-store staff collect the excess parcels and process them via the Relais Colis mobile solution. They can then—if they choose and in a fully autonomous way—add more parcels to the locker as customers pick up their parcels and free space throughout the day.
For Relais Colis, the lockers contribute to absorbing increasing volumes of parcels without overloading the retail stores, whereas lockdown periods force the closure of part of their network’s shops and deliveries are redirected to those that remain open.
Jean-Sébastien Leridon, general manager of Relais Colis, explains: “Since the invention of the parcel pick-up point concept, we have always been committed to offering a wide array of delivery methods that give the consumer more choice and freedom. With Quadient and this new generation of ultra-modular lockers, we have a more flexible solution that allows us not only to offer a service that perfectly complements the traditional parcel pick-up point, but more importantly, to increase the capacity of our partner stores, generating incremental traffic while preserving their main activity.”
Quadient’s Parcel Pending Lite technology is a compact, modular solution. Each unit can be easily adapted to the volume of deliveries and the space available at each location. Self-powered, it does not require any special physical arrangement for its installation. The locker is connected to the Relais Colis system through the Quadient central monitoring and tracking platform. It sends information on the delivery along with the pick-up codes that allows the recipients to collect their parcel. For the user, the locker reduces the time spent waiting for pick-up, and provides a modern, fast and secure experience, in compliance with current social distancing rules.
“We are very pleased with this vote of confidence from Relais Colis, a partnership that illustrates our shared ambition to make online shopping collection easier for the greatest number of consumers in France” said Daniel Malouf, chief solution officer for Parcel Locker Solutions at Quadient. “With a customer-driven vision, we aim for our solution to support businesses in providing a modern and high-quality service as they adapt to the new lifestyles in large urban areas. This partnership is aligned with our commitment to help retailers and carriers better manage the last mile delivery and enhance the overall customer delivery experience.”
About Quadient®
Quadient is the driving force behind the world’s most meaningful customer experiences. By focusing on three key solution areas, Intelligent Communication Automation, Parcel Locker Solutions and Mail-Related Solutions, Quadient helps simplify the connection between people and what matters. Quadient supports hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide in their quest to create relevant, personalized connections and achieve customer experience excellence. Quadient is listed in compartment B of Euronext Paris (QDT) and is part of the CAC® Mid & Small and EnterNext® Tech 40 indices.
For more information about Quadient, visit quadient.com.
Contacts for Quadient
| Joe Scolaro, Quadient | Sandy Armstrong, Sterling Kilgore | |
| Global Press Relations Manager | Director of Media and Communications | |
| +1-866-883-4260 Ext. 1590 | +1-630-964-8500 | |
| j.scolaro@quadient.com | sarmstrong@sterlingkilgore.com |
About Relais Colis
As the inventor of the concept of delivery in proximity stores since 1983, Relais Colis is the first consumer delivery network in stores and at home. With more than 50 years of experience, Relais Colis is the partner of many leading e-commerce players, and since the announcement of its transformation plan, Relais Colis also responds to the problems of new players: those of small and medium-sized e-merchants and consumers. Relais Colis now offers a complete range of increasingly innovative solutions, combining delivery in proximity stores, consumer to consumer delivery and home delivery for heavy and bulky packages. With the aim of always being at the cutting edge in terms of services and customer experience for delivery, Relais Colis does not hesitate to invest in technologies to meet the challenges of the market: Relais Colis has developed new connection solutions and efficient and effective tracking tools, accessible to its customers and new mechanized platforms to deliver more and faster. In 2020, Relais Colis represents nearly 45 million parcels delivered per year, of which 2 million at home, an integrated network of 4 national hubs, 22 regional agencies and 5,200 local retailers in France. Relais Colis is a company of the New R Group, co-chaired by Nathalie Balla and Eric Courteille. For more information, visit www.relaiscolis.com/.
Contact for Relais Colis
Agence Etycom – Aelya Noiret – a.noiret@etycom.fr / +33 6 52 03 13 47
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