Royal Mail is set to launch a home delivery service which will allow online shoppers the chance to have goods delivered to a secure, electronic parcel locker known as an iBox.
The service, which is being provided in conjunction with logistics firm ByBox, will be available from a select number of online retailers from this autumn as part of a six month trial.
iBoxes will initially be available at 17 mainline stations within London and six other key sites
Shoppers will be notified via email or SMS as soon as their items are delivered and will have 24/7 access to these items, which are collected by entering a unique PIN code provided in the SMS at the iBox.
Royal Mail is using an off-the-shelf package from MetaPack which takes care of all manifest, labelling and reporting changes to help deliver the iBox service.
The iBox delivery option will be available on the Royal Mail Tracked two to three day service so can be easily bolted on for retailers already offering this option.
The move follows a similar scheme on the continent. In Germany alone there are now almost 3,000 units deployed and 29 per cent of consumers have said the availability of these locker banks has increased their online purchasing.
Other postal administrations using locker banks include Norway, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, France, Poland and Turkey.