Amazon has signed a deal that means customers can now have their online orders delivered to their local Post Office for collection.
The arrangement will see Amazon join Royal Mail's Local Collect, which enables customers to pick up online goods from their local post office. The deal should mean customers no longer have to worry about missing a delivery or travelling to a sorting office to collect a parcel.
The service enables shoppers to have parcels delivered to around 10,500 Post Office branches, with Royal Mail claiming that 99 per cent of the population lives within three miles of a Post Office branch.
Amazon already has a similar services in place through its Amazon lockers, Pass My Parcel a tie-up with newspaper distributor Smiths News and hundreds of Collect+ stores.
"Pickup Locations have become the delivery method of choice for many shoppers. Offering the collection of packages from Post Offices is another great way of providing our customers with the highest levels of convenience," said Amazon UK managing director Christopher North.
"Customers can collect their Amazon orders from over 16,000 Pickup Locations across the UK," he added.
"Royal Mail is a key partner for online retailers and by teaming up with Post Office to offer the UK's largest click and collect service, we are enabling Amazon's customers to have greater control over the delivery of their items," said Nick Landon, managing director of Royal Mail Parcels.
In similar news, Argos has opened up a 170 square foot store in Cannon Street London Underground station to enable customers to make orders and collect online purchases on the way home from work.
Customers can order by 1pm for collection from 4pm or order after 1pm for collection the following day.
"Digital shoppers are increasingly demanding improved choice, convenience and speed in the fulfilment of their online orders, especially via click-and-collect; the collection of their online orders from a conveniently located shop," said John Walden, chief executive of Argos parent company Home Retail.
"Our new Argos Collect format at the Cannon Street Underground station will complement our other Argos digital store trials, including converted traditional Argos stores, small format digital stores, and concessions in select Homebase stores; nearly 50 in total in place for Christmas. Because of our innovative new hub and spoke' distribution network, we can now provide over 20,000 products to any of our locations within hours, regardless of the stocking capacity of each individual store."
"We have over 1,000 retail units across our transport network," said TfL director of commercial development Graeme Craig. "We are keen to retain a wide base of independent quality retailers that reflect the character of the local area and sit alongside pop-up shops, click-and-collect units and high street brands, to provide our millions of customers with better journeys and the range of shopping options they want."
