Young Women And Mums Spearheading Demand For In-Store Parcel Services

• New data commissioned by PayPoint^[1] suggests that young women have become the clear driving force behind in-store parcel services
• 68.4% of people using Collect+ or other parcel services are female
• Almost half (45.3%) are mums who live with their partners and children
• 45% of people using Collect+ and other parcel services are aged between 18-34

PayPoint has commissioned new data that showcases young women, particularly those with families, as the predominant users of in-store parcel services such as Collect+.

The research indicates that a significant 68.4% of individuals utilising Collect+ or similar parcel services are female. Furthermore, nearly half (45.3%) of these women are mothers living with their partners and children. Additionally, 45% of the service users fall within the 18-34 age bracket, emphasising the appeal of these services to the younger generation.

Findings also indicate that soft drinks and confectionery most likely to be purchased by shoppers visiting a store to use parcel services. This vindicates the long-held view that provision of additional services by retailers can drive footfall and bottom-line growth through impulse purchases.

Nick Williams, Director of Parcel Services at PayPoint, said: “These findings pinpoint young women and those with families as a key growth driver of in-store parcel service usage. Similarly, like everyone who uses in-store parcel services, they are supporting the revenue of independent retailers by boosting footfall and ad-hoc purchases of the everyday essentials that we all rely on.

“Providing convenience and flexibility to local communities throughout the UK sits at the heart of our business strategy. This is why we have worked hard to bring a range of market leading brands and partners to the Collect+ service, most recently Royal Mail, Vinted and others.”

Collect+ forms an extensive network across the UK, with over 13,000 accessible points including newsagents, convenience stores, supermarkets, and petrol stations. The service is designed to cater to the convenience of local communities, operating seven days a week and accommodating early to late opening hours.

Royal Mail has recently partnered with Collect+ to allow its customers to benefit from its network, allowing them to drop off packages up to large parcel size using 1st and 2nd class and Tracked 24 and Tracked 48. This applies to both returns and items that someone has paid for the postage for online and either printed a label or generated a QR code.

Commenting on the trend, Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer at Royal Mail, added: “We are seeing increasing demand from our customers wanting to drop off returns or parcels they have paid for online, which now makes up more than half of our non-account customers’ parcel sales. We know our customers have different lifestyles and we want to make it as easy as we can for them to send and receive parcels by giving them the widest possible choice.

“Our partnership with Collect+ is enabling us to do this by adding thousands of additional locations for our customers to drop off parcels, with convenient opening hours including evenings and weekends.”

Source : PayPoint

Image : PayPoint

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