Parcel lockers or store pick-up options have a promising outlook in Vietnam given fast-growing urbanization in the country, according to a report by JLL Vietnam.
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The Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study 2018 shows that ecommerce saw a growth of 40% in total value of purchase compared to the year before. “The accelerated growth is both good and bad news for retailers, who are in need of better delivery options to tackle the challenges of last mile deliveries from warehouses to homes and offices,” Stephen Wyatt, country head of JLL Vietnam comments.
“Trying to deliver packages to customers who aren’t home can cause delays on delivery routes, while getting orders to individual addresses often means putting vehicles on the roads before they’re full, raising costs and contributing to city center congestion and air pollution.”
Although they are a familiar sight in many other countries, lockboxes are currently not wildly available in Vietnam. DHL has a network of 340,000 lockers in Germany and major UK fashion brands like ASOS utilizes them to let customer return products anytime they want. Sportswear brand Decathlon also installed 1,500 lockers to support its click-and-collect delivery option. These boxes are even creatively used as self-checkin device for many AirBnB homes, with house keys stored in a lockbox with a unique code provided only to registered guests.
A good location for lockers depends on retailer customer profiles – how frequently customers order and where they live. This is where big data can provide insight into the most effective locations, Stephen said. What’s key is that customers can pick up the parcel along their usual journey, without a detour. Furthermore, lockers need to be in secure locations with good surveillance to minimize the risk of theft or vandalism.
Down the line, new residential and mixed-used developments in Vietnam could include a block of lockers, accessible by all residents as well as retailers. Currently, most big packages delivered to residential buildings are left at the door or reception table. With hundreds of packages arriving each day for the thousands of residents, parcel lockers can minimize the risk of mixing up or losing packages, Stephen said.
Urbanization is speeding up, and this means more and more people are moving to the city every year. According to JLL’s data, the number of apartments in Ho Chi Minh City has increased from 67,200 to 180,000 units in the period of 5 years, an approx. 190% growth from 2014 to Q2 2019. For landlords, providing the convenience of parcel lockers could be an additional perk that attracts commercial and residential tenants – especially as online shopping continues to grow.
In the future, refrigerated lockers for food and grocery orders could also become popular fixtures, JLL concluded.
