Pick-up Points, Locker and Click&Collect: we have already shed light (here) on the various modes of delivery of eCommerce orders. But how many and where exactly are the so-called PUDOs (Pick-up and Drop-off Points), i.e., the physical parcel storage points that are spread throughout the territory and are now a real alternative to the traditional home delivery mode?
The situation in Italy
Italy is among the countries that in recent years have seen a greater development of Locker networks, the lockers that are available 24/7 and allow the collection of goods and documents. But there is a catch: despite the boom in eCommerce (which we also talked about here) and the increase in the number of Lockers on the national territory, looking at the total number of available units we can see that this is still marginal and home delivery, i.e., traditional home delivery, remains the preferred mode among Italian eShoppers, followed by pickup at a commercial establishment (Click&Collect, 18% of eShoppers, Netcomm data).
How many Lockers are there
The figure emerges from the document on measures to encourage the use of automatic lockers for parcel delivery and collection prepared by the Communications Guarantee Authority (AGCOM) in which it shows that the number of Lockers throughout the country is 2,500 units divided among three different operators: the largest network is that of Amazon Italia Transport (2,150 units), followed by InPost (350 units) and Poste Italiane (50 units).
Where are the Lockers
Lockers for product delivery and pickup are not evenly distributed across the country: about 22 percent of the total number of automated lockers are located in the country’s 9 largest metropolitan areas including Rome (192 units), Milan (128 units), Turin (82 units), Bologna (36 units), Genoa (35 units), Florence (22 units), Bari (21 units), Venice (18 units) and Naples (16 units).
The ratio of resident population to number of units increases as one moves from metropolitan and provincial areas-where there is an average of one locker for every 14,000 inhabitants-to non-urban areas where the ratio is one locker for every 32,000 inhabitants.
In general, the average in Italy is one locker for every 23 thousand inhabitants. Translated in terms of distances to be traveled in order to reach a collection point, it takes from 0.6 meters to over 200 kilometers for an average value of 9 kilometers.
The European picture
Wanting to make a comparison with European countries, the German network has coverage that allows 90% of the population to reach a locker in no more than ten minutes (the ratio is one locker for every 16,000 inhabitants approximately). In Spain, the ratio is one pickup point for every 8 thousand inhabitants. In contrast, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Sweden do much worse: one locker for every 510 thousand inhabitants, 96 thousand inhabitants, and 86 thousand inhabitants, respectively. In France the ratio is one locker for every 48 thousand inhabitants, while in the United Kingdom it is one for every 42 thousand (AGCOM elaborations on Cullen International and ERGP data).
In future installments we will also discuss what measures can be taken to incentivize the use of lockers.
If you are an eCommerce business and would like to enable return services at Collection Points, please contact us!
