Insight / Blog

A huge week for PUDO


Posted on 25th November 2019

Doddle & Australia Post launch

We’ve been sitting on this one a while, but we can finally talk about our partnership with Australia Post. They’re the dominant carrier in Australia and one of the most progressive Posts I’ve come across, so it’s absolutely great to be partnering with  them to put PUDO at the heart of their ecommerce strategy going forward. As a result of the deal,  we now power the largest collection and returns network in Australia – AP has a network of 4,300 post offices and 350 locker locations – to which we’re adding in thousands more new locations in supermarkets, department stores, pharmacies and petrol stations.

With just 42% of Aussie online retailers offering click and collect, we’re expecting to see this partnership massively accelerate the maturation of the ecommerce market. As in any market, PUDO offers increased capacity, increased speed, and increased efficiency which can only help grease the wheels (to excuse a bad pun).

Currently only 10% of Australian retail happens online, whereas in the UK it’s 18%. Those numbers are all going to change, though – pick-up services are the fastest growing delivery option in the world right now, and with ecommerce volumes expected to grow 55% by 2022, we’re setting up Australia Post to offer a really quality customer experience in a massive growth market. Very excited to see how this develops.

Amazon advertises Hub Counters – notably not the Amazon Locker

Amazon released its Christmas ad the other day, and look what shows up exactly 60 seconds in: an Amazon Hub Counter, Amazon’s PUDO solution.

And it’s the only Amazon ‘sub-brand’ that appears.

Amazon really really care about Amazon Hub. These stories just keep cropping up now, and whilst Amazon themselves aren’t really pushing the narrative, it’s hard for them to keep under the radar when they add tens of thousands of locations. And make no mistake: that is what is happening.

Last month Doddle’s Dispatch reported that Amazon inked a deal with GNC, Health Mart and Stage Stores, which brought an undisclosed number of new Hub Counters online, and just last week, they also announced the launch of Amazon Hub in Australia.  Amazon is quietly building the world’s largest PUDO network, as befits a retailer of its stature.

What then? Well, as we’ve seen with Amazon Logistics, Fulfilment by Amazon, Shipping with Amazon & Amazon Web Services, there’s every chance they’ll offer Hub Counter as a product in its own right, with other retailers able to sign up to route orders and returns through the Amazon Counters.

Whether or not that comes to pass, Amazon’s investment in the space is evident. They’re in the interesting position of leading in PUDO and still being at a disadvantage compared to key competitors like Walmart because they lack stores. I expect this investment to continue apace, and for Amazon to ramp up the advertising and start pushing customers towards PUDO options and away from the more expensive to-door last mile deliveries.

Quadient (formerly Neopost) in Japan

Quadient, the organisation formerly known as Neopost (TOFKAN), announced last week that its subsidiary Pack City Japan has now deployed 5,000 lockers in Japan, way ahead of schedule – initial plans were to reach the 5,000 number by 2022. Packcity Japan locker stations are used mainly for second-attempt deliveries, and also see use for direct deliveries and consumer-to-consumer shipments. Packcity Japan teams are now looking to keep adding thousands of more units before 2022.

Aramex Spot announced

And it’s not just Australia or Amazon where PUDO is grabbing the headlines and growing. Global delivery business Aramex has debuted its new PUDO network in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Called Aramex Spot, it’s a last-mile solution that uses business locations as host partners for PUDO points.

They’re shooting to have 150 Spot locations across the region by 2021 and hope that the new service will improve customer experience and harness the demand for drop off and collection points.

Global growth trajectory

It’s an exciting time to be in this market and with UPS announcing they’re going to be delivering  over 30 million parcels per day over peak this year, there’s no signs of the volume slowing down. Global ecommerce is a runaway train right now, but there’s reason to be concerned about what that means when the majority of deliveries are still to customers homes. PUDO offers a compelling proposition that scales remarkably well, which explains why so many businesses across the world are investing.


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