28 January 2016Group news
Retail payments and services

28 JANUARY 2016: CollectPlus, the UK's largest independent store-based delivery and returns service, today announced that 2015 saw its biggest Click & Collect Christmas to date. Industry analysts Capgemini and IMRG predicted a 12% growth in online sales over Christmas year-on-year*, CollectPlus outstripped this with its Click & Collect business growing by 27% year-on-year** for the period October to December.

More than 428,000 new customers began using the CollectPlus Click & Collect service during that period - with December's total increasing 15% year-on-year. The deals on offer in the Boxing Day sales proved popular as 10,000+ shoppers used the Click & Collect service for the first time on Tuesday 29 December alone.

Recent research from CollectPlus, the market leaders in third party Click & Collect, revealed that 66%*** of UK consumers have used a Click & Collect service over the Christmas period, with more than half (52%) mainly motivated by the added convenience that Click & Collect offers.

In addition, following the recent announcement of new partnerships with high street fashion retailer New Look and menswear brand The Idle Man, CollectPlus is kick-starting 2016 with 33 new brands on board following peak, taking the total number of retailers that offer Click & Collect through CollectPlus to more than 90. Further brands will launch this year including Aldi Wines, which went live last week.

Paul Scratchley, Commercial Director at CollectPlus, explained: 'We have just experienced our most successful peak to date, introducing more new customers than ever before to our Click & Collect service, and we are well set to build on this momentum in 2016. We know from our own research that CollectPlus brings new customers into convenience stores, and that two thirds of our customers (64%) have used the service more than three times.'

A diverse range of retailers are now offering Click & Collect with CollectPlus, from AO.com to Nespresso. The service allows customers the opportunity to collect purchases from a range of online brands at their local CollectPlus store, making many more brands including Liverpool Football Club, Pretty Little Thing and Go Outdoors easily accessible to a wider audience across the UK.

Scratchley continued: 'We are excited to be welcoming so many new retail partners to our network. Our strong growth underlines the quality of service we are providing both to retailers and their customers. Many of our partner retailers rely on the reach and convenience of our network to deliver products to customers who might otherwise have been unable to access them. We also know that shoppers value choice when it comes to the delivery of their online shopping and we're pleased to be able to provide them with a greater range of products they can access through Click & Collect.'

Across the UK, CollectPlus customers can enjoy a high level of convenience no matter where they live. Eight million people live within 300 metres of a CollectPlus store, and across the UK over 90% of the UK population in urban areas live within a mile of theirs. In rural areas, 89% of the population are just five miles from their nearest CollectPlus store. What's more, most of the stores in the network are open early until late, seven days a week.

A high level of customer satisfaction is central to the success of CollectPlus. At present, 82% of TrustPilot reviews rate the service as five star with customers considering the CollectPlus service to be 'excellent'.

Founded in 2009, CollectPlus is a joint venture between PayPoint, the leading retail payment network, and independent UK parcel carrier, Yodel.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editor

Data from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index; http://imrg.org/res/files/D37574E7F12.pdf

CollectPlus YOY growth of 27% based on like for like clients

Data from ResearchNow on behalf of CollectPlus. Total sample size was 2003. Fieldwork was undertaken in October 2015. Data was secured via telephone interviews, with the UK sample consisting of 2003 adults.

For further information, please contact the CollectPlus team at the Red Consultancy:

Email: collectplusteam@redconsultancy.com

Tel: 0207 025 6500

CollectPlus scores 9.2/10 on TrustPilot, with 82.3% of customers giving CollectPlus 5/5 stars (as of 19.01.16).

ABOUT COLLECTPLUS

CollectPlus is the UK's largest independent store-based parcel delivery and returns service. It offers a simple and convenient way for people to collect online purchases from or return unwanted items to more than 300 high street and online retailers, including John Lewis, New Look and ASOS - all at their local convenience store.

It is also possible to send parcels to any UK address from a CollectPlus store, making it a convenient option for those who sell products via online marketplaces such as eBay, as well as acting as a cheaper and convenient alternative parcel service for sending packages to friends and family.

Founded in 2009, CollectPlus was the first business to offer third party click and collect in the UK and now has a network of over 5,800 conveniently located parcel stores across the UK, nearly all of which are open early 'til late seven days a week. 90% of the UK's urban population live within a mile of a CollectPlus point and 89% within five miles in rural areas.

CollectPlus now handles in excess of 300,000 parcels a week and in July 2015 handled its 50 millionth parcel. CollectPlus is a joint venture between PayPoint, the leading retail payment network, and leading independent parcel carrier, Yodel.

ABOUT PAYPOINT

PayPoint is an international leader in payment technologies, its solutions transforming payments for everyone from consumer and financial services companies to retailers, utilities, media, e-commerce, gaming and government clients.

PayPoint delivers payments and services by taking the complexity of multi-channel payments and translating it into convenient, simple, value-added solutions. It handles almost £15 billion from almost 800 million transactions annually for more than 5,000 clients and merchants.

With the backing of 24/7 operations centres with dual site processing, PayPoint is widely recognised for its leadership in payment systems, smart technology and service.

Retail networks

The PayPoint retail network across the UK numbers over 29,000 local shops (including Co-op, Spar, McColls, Costcutter, Sainsbury's Local, Tesco Express, One Stop, Asda, Londis and thousands of independents), where it processes energy meter pre-payments, bill payments, benefit payments, mobile phone top-ups, transport tickets, BBC TV licences, cash withdrawals and a range of other transactions. In Romania, the retail network numbers 9,700 terminals in local shops, helping people to make cash bill payments, money transfers, road tax payments and mobile phone top-ups. In the Republic of Ireland, over 500 terminals in shops and credit unions process mobile top-ups and bill payments.

Collect+, a joint venture with Yodel, provides a parcel drop-off and pick-up service at 6,000 PayPoint retailers. PayPoint's ATM network numbers more than 4,000 'LINK' branded machines across the UK, and 10,000 PayPoint terminals enable retailers to accept credit and debit cards.

Mobile Payments

PayPoint Mobile Payments (trading as PayByPhone and Adaptis) handles over 118 million payments for parking, payments and consumer services. In major cities in the UK, Canada, USA, France, Switzerland and Australia, its parking solutions make it easy for people to pay for parking by mobile, as well as providing electronic parking permits, automatic number plate recognition systems for car parks and penalty charge notices.

ABOUT YODEL

Independent UK parcel carrier Yodel handles over 155 million parcels every year and has a relationship with 85 per cent of the UK's top retailers. The company is headquartered in Hatfield and has over 60 locations across the UK, including three central sorts and over 50 service centres.

Yodel offers a range of services to meet the needs of its clients and their customers. Through its sister company, Arrow XL, Yodel can also offer a two man service for white goods and large items up to 120kg.

To find out more visit www.yodel.co.uk

PP - PayPoint plc issued this content on 28 January 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 28 January 2016 08:02:04 UTC

Original Document: https://www.paypoint.com/en-gb/news/view/collectplus-record-parcel-volume/