Click & Collect service automates Verkkokauppa.com order pickup
Click & Collect service automates Verkkokauppa.com order pickup
Verkkokauppa.com opened a bank of 212 click & collect lockers in its shop located in the Jätkäsaari quarter of Helsinki on September 5, 2022. Now customers can come and collect their orders during shop opening hours. The solution was developed in collaboration between Posti, Verkkokauppa.com and Punta.
Marleena Hanka, the business manager for new Posti business operations, says the locker bank born in collaboration between Posti, Verkkokauppa.com and Punta is a service provided under a concept developed by Posti, aiming for the automation of shop pickups and improved customer experience.
“We work in close cooperation with Verkkokauppa.com from warehousing to shipping,” Hanka explains, “and it was great to get to develop a new pickup method based on this. We want to provide comprehensive service, and it is important for us to move through the online shop value chain alongside our partner. We share the same customers whom we both wish to serve as well as possible to meet their changing needs.”
Timeliness, speed and spontaneity of delivery are of vital importance in the field of online shopping. The locker bank manufactured by Punta is part of a process of developing the Verkkokauppa.com customer experience and a new way of collecting online orders in person. Each order is collected using a locker unlocking code found in the Verkkokauppa.com customer account. The unlocking code is also provided via SMS and email. At best, customers can collect their orders within fifteen minutes of ordering.
“Customers are pleased when they can collect orders at their convenience and without waiting,” observes Markus Pätilä, the sales director at Verkkokauppa.com.
“Thanks to Click & Collect, shop employees can also focus more on things of value to customers, namely meeting and serving them instead of spending time handling parcels,” adds Hanka. “Presently, we are developing this concept in line with the needs and wishes of our customers so that we can deliver whatever matters to them responsibly and on their terms.”
Long-term cooperation with Punta
Building a customer-oriented value chain is at the core of Posti operations. Posti has worked closely together with Punta in the distribution network for a long time.
“Punta has superior expertise in conventional locker banks,” says Hanka, “but it also has a fine grasp on what is suitable for developing something new to find workable solutions and carry them out together.”
In addition to the professional skills at Punta, Hanka emphasizes the importance of seamless cooperation.
“Communication with Punta is open,” she says, “and it is a smooth process to develop solutions that combine the strengths of both parties. When making something new, it is important to work closely together toward the common goal; seriously but not severely. The practical work reflects careful planning with its clear roles, the inclusion of people at the right stages in whatever projects are just underway, as well as efficient fulfillment.”
Matti Hartonen, the key account manager at Punta, reveals Punta was selected as a partner of Posti because of its strong expertise in a wide variety of smart parcel lockers. Punta offers its lockers the type of functionality, efficiency, flexibility and ease of use that benefits the customers and their customers (the end customers).
Photos: Teemu Riihelä
