Well over two thirds (68.4%) of people using Collect+ or other in-store parcel services are female, new data from PayPoint has found.
Almost half (45.3%) of service users are mums who live with their partners and children and 45% are aged between 18 and 34, the research highlighted.
Soft drinks and confectionery are the most likely categories to be purchased by shoppers visiting a store to use parcel services, stated PayPoint.
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.”
