DPD UK has more than doubled its turnover since 2013 and has established itself as the go-to carrier for retailers who value a personalized home delivery experience. Its 15,000-strong team now delivers 263 million parcels a year from 65 depots for 7,500 customers. In 2019 DPD UK launched Design Space, an in-app forum that consumers can join if they want to suggest, share and vote in polls on new ideas to improve the DPD experience. Approximately 50,000 people are now actively engaged and DPD believes this is the world’s biggest focus group. Engaging with consumers in this way produced DPD UK’s best ever service level (on-time delivery) of 98.95%, up from 98% in 2018, which means that on a like-for-like basis the company has delivered 2.75 million more parcels right first-time year on year.

Also shortlisted:

• JD Logistics
• Australia Post
• Omniva (Estonia Post)
• LibanPost

Beumer has had a busy 2019 and 2020 launching new products and winning major contracts. In July, for example, the global supplier of automated parcel and postal distribution systems, was chosen by Royal Mail to design the technology for its new fully automated parcel super-hub in Warrington, UK. Scheduled to be fully operational by early 2022, it will be the size of four-and-a-half football pitches and, once complete, will handle more than 800,000 parcels per day. In terms of product development Beumer has launched its BG Sorter Compact CB cross-belt sorter, which according to the company promises more flexibility in a tight footprint. The system optimizes performance and product life-cycle costs. This is ensured by the intelligent software and the possibility of data analysis.

Also shortlisted:

• Hurricane Modular Commerce
• HypaShip
• Keba
• Blue Yonder

By 2030 bpost group aims to have reduced its CO2 emissions by at least 20% and boast a fleet that is comprised of at least 50% electric vehicles. Some 600 new electric Colibus vans will be deployed across Belgium by 2022, which will increase to more than 3,400 by 2030. Furthermore, in 2019, bpost group opened Belgium’s most environmentally friendly distribution center in the city of Mons. The building is optimally insulated and equipped with solar panels and smart energy consumption systems for lighting, heating and air conditioning. These innovations enable bpost group to significantly improve its resource efficiency at the Mons distribution center, with electricity consumption cut by 18% and gas consumption by 55% compared with average consumption at the other distribution centers.

Also shortlisted:

• DPD UK
• Asendia
• New Zealand Post
• Posten Norge
• Notime, Swiss Post and Digitec Galaxus

bpost group has launched an exclusive online growth platform for SMEs in Belgium called ‘touslesmagasinsenligne.be’. It enables SMEs to build their own webshop in a just few clicks. The solution was developed to be as simple and straightforward as possible to make it easy for SMEs to capitalize on the growing e-commerce sector. Companies can set up a complete webshop in just 30 minutes. Developed in association with Shopitag, the platform takes care of online payments, fast and reliable delivery and advertising on social networks. SMEs also receive full assistance from experts at bpost group and Shopitag for every step in the sales process. The platform is intuitive to use and offers a choice of pricing options tailored to the specific needs of different retailers, plus a practical starter pack.

Also shortlisted:

• Posten Norge grocery delivery
• Grocery delivery by Posti Group and FarEye
• Saudi Post’s pharma initiative
• Hurricane Commerce’s Zephyr
• DPDgroup and Seur’s air quality monitoring program

Swiss Post’s Home Service Order Pen was launched as an extension to its Home Service offering. Home Service enables Swiss residents to request that postal transactions are carried out at their front door, rather than them having to travel to a local post office. The pen enables customers to carry out the desired postal transactions, such as sending letters and packages, ordering stamps and withdrawing cash, easily and conveniently at the touch of a button. Neither a login nor a password is required. The ordering pen has been successfully used in specific regions in Switzerland since autumn 2019. From autumn 2020, the new service will be introduced in stages throughout Switzerland.

Also shortlisted:

• Escher’s complete retail solution
• DHL Express’s pop-up Service Point
• Purolator Quick Stop Kiosk
• Aramex Smart

Posti Box is a final-mile delivery point equipped with fitting rooms, a large parcel locker and a digital kiosk. According to Posti, Box also acts as a physical store for online retailers and as a testing space for Posti’s new digital services. Any customer of Posti can have their order delivered to Box and pick it up, for instance, on their way to work or during a shopping trip in the city center. Customers can leave packaging materials at Box to be recycled or used by other customers. Box can also be used by online retailers for organizing their own pop-up events and as a display window for their products.

Also shortlisted:

• iParcelBox
• Parcel Pending Lite by Quadient
• OmniCAR by Omnic
• Nuggets biometric delivery
• Bring’s contactless delivery solution

In February 2020 Australia Post and Doddle launched Australia’s largest pick-up and drop-off (PUDO) network, Australia Post Collect and Return. The solution enables consumers to choose alternative delivery locations in the checkouts of their favorite e-commerce merchants and collect those deliveries at a time of their choosing at post offices, parcel lockers, selected supermarkets, hardware and department stores, and shopping centers. The Doddle store app powers the in-store journey at third-party host locations, ensuring that every parcel transaction is quick and easy for both the consumer and host staff. As part of the program, the e-commerce returns experience was also completely digitized, enabling consumers to self-serve via a new Easy returns portal, powered by the Doddle platform.

Also shortlisted:

• ParcelFinder by Prime Vision
• Postman Tool by bpost group
• Premium Tracking Page by Parcel Perform
• Urbantz and the French Red Cross
• Smart Boxes by Poste Italiane

Quadient’s CVP Everest is a fit-to-product automated packaging technology that measures, constructs, glues and labels each variable-dimension single- or multi-item order of either soft or hard goods without any additional equipment or operators needed. The packaging solution generates the smallest parcel needed while optimizing all steps of parcel fulfillment, saving on labor, shipping and material costs while increasing sustainability. The solution can package up to 1,100 boxes per hour and, according to Quadient, can lead to a reduction in shipping volumes by an average of 50% due to the use of a right-sized box.

Also shortlisted:

• Leopard Cube by Leopard Systems
• MARK Display by ProGlove
• Hub Booster software by Siemens Logistics
• Singulation and Sorting System by Photoneo
• Asset Tracking by Prime Vision
• FulfillmentEdge by Zebra