Zalando’s neighbours-as-a-network approach to PUDO

The service is called ‘Din Nabo’ (that’s Danish for ‘your neighbour’) and it’s exactly what it sounds like: you pick up your parcel from your neighbour. That neighbour acts as a service point for packages to be collected or returned, earning a small commission on parcels.

95% of Danish customers rated Zalando’s new pick-up and drop-off pilot as excellent since its launch in July. The service caters particularly well to a rural demographic in Denmark, where stores are quite literally few and far between but neighbours are abundant.

So far the pilot is running in residential areas in Copenhagen and Aarhus, but is anticipated to roll out further to more rural areas where store opening times are often more limited.

One of the clear benefits consumers are identifying is the sustainability improvement offered by the model. Karin Iversen is one of the neighbours operating as a PUDO point: “This is already a success! I’m helping my neighbours and we already saved several trips of trucks in our small roads. What is not to like?”

Clearly this model seems to fit well with Danish cultural values and the existing community, with shoppers reporting a great level of service from their neighbours. Interestingly, this is actually not a new concept for us here at Doddle – we launched Doddle Neighbour in the UK in 2016. Whilst the service was successful for us and we had amazing NPS results from completed customer journeys, the vagaries of the model around dealing with neighbours missing a delivery (unlike a store with a PUDO counter, they’re not committed to business hours) or the legal side of liability and insurance in a domestic environment made it difficult to scale at that time.

However, in this specific deployment where stores are less accessible and open for fewer hours, the Din Nabo pilot seems to be taking root successfully. Clearly this is an interesting proposition and a model with some real value. Watch this space!