InPost is successful in the British Isles. “Parcel locker revolution”

Has the United Kingdom fallen in love with parcel lockers? It seems that the trend of sending and receiving parcels, especially those branded with the InPost brand, is leaving an increasing impact on everyday life in Great Britain. And the most famous Polish logistics operator, like the shipments it handles, is not slowing down.

– The British market is very important for the InPost Group and has enormous potential. We want to be the strongest out-of-home delivery player in this country. We are constantly growing faster than the market and recording significant increases in volumes, as well as increasing profitability as the scale of operations increases, said Rafał Brzoska, founder and CEO of InPost, at the end of May 2024.

At that time, the anniversary of seven thousand parcel lockers in Great Britain was officially announced. At that time, it turned out that residents of cities such as London, Birmingham or Manchester had on average about a seven-minute walk to the nearest InPost point.

Parcel locker revolution, i.e. next important steps of InPost in the UK

However, Brzoska’s words and the numbers presented in May 2024 are a thing of the past. The present looks even more positive for InPost. The company is moving step by step towards further development, observing an upward trend. Andrew Simon, Finance Director at InPost UK, talked a lot about it during the presentation in Scotland.

– There is an increasing trend in Europe when it comes to parcel lockers. There are approximately 41,000 of them in total. In Poland it is over 23,000, and the UK market has opened up significantly. We’re talking about over 8,000 here. It is primarily about convenience, low shipping costs and the speed with which you can collect your parcel. We are talking about a real revolution, emphasized Simon.

In Great Britain, people increasingly notice how convenient it is to use parcel lockers, which are so popular in Poland. It is also the opinion that comes from other important market players about the global brand. Example? Lidl.

– By offering parcel locker services in our stores, we not only increase spending and customer satisfaction, but also attract new and inactive customers. It’s good for our customers and good for Lidl, admitted Louise Weise, Customer Director of Lidl in the UK.

Another great convenience is the functioning of the application, which definitely facilitates the use of the possibilities offered by InPost. For example, as the company reported, at the beginning of August, 3 million users used the innovative InPost Pay service. Operating with the help of an application responsible for the parcel, highly rated by users, also translates into rapidly increasing confidence among foreign customers.

Sport is an important element of InPost’s activities

Let anyone who has not gone to a parcel locker at least once in his life cast the first stone. In the case of InPost, this form of activity is also a form of social activation. Although this seems to be a somewhat trivial combination, in practice it actually translates into something more.

– We activate people to go get the parcel. This parcel really is several hundred meters from the house. Now our customer does not wait for the parcel, he just goes for it. He goes for a walk on his way to work, rather than picking her up by car. Most people collect their parcel by walking to the parcel locker on foot. It’s not that InPost’s task is to organize people’s time. But our idea makes the walk to the parcel locker, and generally collecting parcels, fulfill its function – admits Wojciech Kądziołka, InPost spokesman.

In the case of sport in Great Britain, the first, even obvious association is football. InPost has been a partner of Newcastle United since December 2023. A team that plays not only in the English Premier League – the best football league in the world – but, until recently, also in the prestigious Champions League (2023/24 season). That is, a premium club product from UEFA. What’s more, Newcastle United was able to beat the famous Paris Saint-Germain 4:1 on October 4, 2023.

– InPost and Newcastle United share a common approach to innovation and the pursuit of perfection, also in parcel deliveries. St. Stadium James’ Park is in the heart of the city and in the hearts of fans – as InPost noticed. Therefore, the parcel lockers at the stadium will provide both fans and all residents with a convenient option to use InPost services, argued Peter Silverstone, commercial director of Newcastle United, after the official announcement of the cooperation.

Newcastle United, the “Polish club” in the Premier League

In the north-east of England, Newcastle United is a place that attracts a lot of attention. Magpies (The Magpies, the club’s nickname), apart from the fan attachment visible in the stands at St James’ Park, also translates into recipients, among others: on social media. An argument that cannot be underestimated in the modern world.

Newcastle United Instagram account? 2.8 million followers. Facebook? Even more, as many as 4.3 million followers. TikTok? 3.5 million followers and an additional impressive number of almost 60 million likes.

Newcastle itself as a city, and more precisely as a metropolitan district, is a center of various types of industry. From shipbuilding, machinery, electrical engineering, chemicals, and even hard coal mining.

The working-class nature of Newcastle United makes it a club that locals will never be indifferent to. Which is certainly an additional advantage for InPost, especially in the area of ​​further development in Great Britain

– In this respect, InPost’s strategy is multi-level. On the one hand, it’s the group strategy we have as a company, I mean sponsorship issues. We have already selected several teams we work with, looking at the British football market, Newcastle United. On the other hand, we have, for example, the Tour de France, which attracts the largest crowd of sports fans in the world. It’s a big story, the epicenter of cycling for the whole world. The announcement of the next route for the new edition of TdF will soon begin. And since then, this race has been widely talked about. We are not talking about activity only during the sports competition itself. This is our group strategy of market activation. There is also an element of reaching out at the grassroots, very local level. And we are a company that operates locally, because our parcel lockers are not only in large cities – adds Izabela Karolczyk-Szafrańska, marketing and PR director at InPost.

Therefore, it seems that the prospect of parcel lockers appearing just around the corner is not only a scenario for Poland. InPost consistently wants to transplant this model to the foreign market and, just like the Newcastle United players – some in business, the other in sports – they have something to be proud of. In the end, what matters is the result.

Although a bit like the football Premier League, the competition never sleeps, so players such as Amazon are still a force to be reckoned with. However, just like in sports, healthy competition has never hurt anyone. It is important to have the right idea for yourself (i.e. your business). And InPost should not miss one.