In search of economy and security, online retail adopts lockers

Buy online and remove the package in a locker installed in strategic point of the city. So does the delivery by means of so-called "lockers", popular model in the United States and Europe, which started to gain breath in Brazil this year. On international experience, the idea is to reduce freight costs and offer more convenience to the customer. Here, the retailers have an incentive to adopt the technology: bending the difficulties imposed by the lack of public safety, which often prevents the product to arrive directly to the client. The problem is particularly serious in the River, where, according to a study by the Federation of industries of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan), the cargo thefts recorded 10,599 in 2017 caused a prejudice to R $607.1 million. The expectation in the industry is that the delivery mode program to flourish in the country after Via retail, owner of Casas Bahia and Ponto Frio, start your pilot project in São Paulo. The company has installed four cabinets in the State capital and plans to debut next month a similar operation on the river. The idea is that the collection points stay in strategic locations in the city. In Sao Paulo, the retailer operates in partnership with the Ipiranga stations, home to the cabinets. To remove the package, simply enter a code in the self-service terminal. "As the lockers were recém-implementados in four posts of São Paulo, we're still in the pilot phase of the project, but we forecast to expand it to other regions next month. What is defined is that Rio de Janeiro will be the second city that will receive the service and the speed of this extension will depend on the maturity of the tests that we are conducting, "says Flavio Salles, multicanalidade Director of Via retail. "The lockers are trends to deploy ' omnichannel ' [multichannel integration between online and physical operations], regardless of the issue of security. Is a tool that helps e-commerce operations to work with decentralised delivery and cheapest. In e-commerce, which has more expensive is the last mile to the customer's door. For us, in Brazil, after all is a solution to consumers who live in regions with restriction. The locker is an interesting alternative for delivery to any city that has risk zone, "says retail expert Ana Paula Tozzi, Executive Director of AGR consultants. Cost according to Marco Beckowski, a partner at the Inpost Brazil, the template needs to be technically viable volume. Today, experimental projects, the package does not come out cheaper for the consumer. This should occur when retailers can concentrate a lot of orders in a few collection points, reducing the cost of delivery. "The only way to be cheaper when you have volume. Otherwise, you will have an extra cost of delivery. If you only do a delivery in the locker, will have the same cost of home delivery, plus the cost of the locker. We believe that the major will give volume, "he says. Competitor of the carioca Inpost Easypost also bet on the growth of the market. The company is a partner of retailers such as Decatlhon and other niche companies. Today, operates 20 terminals in Rio and Sao Paulo. In Rio de Janeiro, are ten, installed in places such as shopping malls and supermarkets. The company now awaits the entry of 115 new stores in your system, through a partnership with a logistics company. "The plan for 2018 is to expand to hundreds of terminals in Rio and Sao Paulo," says João Mendes Neto, Executive Director of Easypost. To Gabriel Drummond, Director of Intelipost, logistics company, the model has potential, but the market will need to adapt. "I think there's two setbacks. One of them is that consumers are not used. In addition, the shops, the carriers are not ready, and we're talking about a big investment to deploy. But once deployed, it will be very convenient for some people, "says.