November 2002

Collectpoint, one of the original unattended delivery solution specialists, is adding filling station forecourts to its network of pickup points, most of which were originally at convenience stores.

Already it has around 600 forecourt pickup points out of its total of over 3,000, and managing director Jim Doyle told e.logistics Magazine it is currently rolling out its service across the entire Q8 network. The company is also believed to be signing up the Jet network, and has a substantial presence on stations operated by Texaco dealers - despite the fact that Texaco itself is rolling out the rival RelayStar network at many of its own sites.

The move into filling station forecourts underlines Collectpoint's expansion into the business-to-business market. The sites tend to offer 24-hour opening, better access than shops for vehicles driven by sales reps and field service engineers, and often more storage space.

However, Doyle told us an increasing number of the company's convenience-store outlets already offer 24-hour access too. Over half are open by 6am and the rest by 7am, he says.

"There's a big focus on B2B at the moment," Doyle told us. "It's helping us to grow more evenly." But he emphasises that the company is not taking its sights off the B2C market. He says it could be 2004 before this really takes off, but adds that the company is currently in talks with two major retailers, who might add Collectpoint to their portfolio of delivery options. "That would really change the picture."

Meanwhile, the company is forging alliances with several leading carriers in the B2B and B2C markets, including Lynx (its biggest carrier customer) and Business Post.

as RelayStar expands to convenience stores

RelayStar, the collection point business developed by Texaco and based on the group's forecourt chain, has expanded into the high street by appointing agents from within the Spar grocery chain.

Altogether Spar has 2,700 stores in the UK, and initially RelayStar will use up to 295 of these. The company says this will bring the total number of its outlets to more than 1,000.

Chris Davies, retail services executive of Spar, says the development means his group "can enter the package collection market at no cost, while receiving support from the RelayStar team and generating income for Spar sites."

The Spar stores will offer the full range of RelayStar services, which include barcode scanning of packages, proactive order tracking and customer notification of arrival by email, voicemail or SMS message.

Since its launch earlier this year RelayStar has concentrated on business rather than consumer users. They include IBM, NCR, Logicom and Sabre Supply Management, some of whom are customers of Securicor Omega, the biggest single user so far.

However, RelayStar has not ruled out expansion into the consumer market, and the move into the high street will make its network more accessible to consumers. Significantly, Spar was chosen following a survey by consultancy Datamonitor which showed 96 per cent consumer recognition of the brand, and found that 71 per cent of consumers live within three quarters of a mile of a Spar store.