Toulouse: How parcel delivery boosts sales for small businesses
With the rise of e-commerce, partnerships between parcel delivery companies and small Toulouse retailers have increased. And this phenomenon benefits merchants in particular, who can also offer new services.
At the Carrefour ville on boulevard Maréchal Leclerc, employees barely have time to open the doors when customers are already rushing there. Families, students or retirees, their profiles vary. If some have come to do their lessons, others are here to drop off or pick up a package. “We are a supermarket but we also offer a service like the Post Office. People come to ship packages or letters. For them, it avoids having to make a trip to an office further away and for us it allows us to bring people to our store, ”says Julien, manager of the small sign. In Toulouse, this small supermarket is not an isolated case. Bakeries, florists or grocery stores, since the rise of e-commerce platforms, some brands are taking advantage of the influx of parcel deliveries to increase their sales.
This is the case of the Carrefour express very close to Marengo. Last summer, Thabiti, the brand’s director, set up a “Point Contact” partnership with La Poste. “It really increases in-store traffic. In addition, the Post Office pays us around 300 euros per month to provide this service. For them, it also allows them to improve the quality of deliveries, ”explains the director of Carrefour express.
A service that allows an increase in turnover
DHL, Mondial Relay, Colissimo… There are many parcel transport companies. And they create several partnerships with Toulouse merchants. “The argument is that it’s a win-win relationship. On the one hand, it makes it possible to have a premiumization of the service, on the other there is an increase in visibility”, mentions Christophe Francisco, project manager at DHL.
Carriers take advantage of the proximity and availability of small stores in the city center. Shops, for their part, are gaining visibility and some customers picking up their packages are also continuing to shop in-store. The Chronopost teams speak of “an increase in turnover of around 15%” thanks to these new customers.
A few cents per package
In addition to this indirect advertising, an amount is reversed to merchants by delivery companies to perform this additional service. Depending on the company, it varies. The service ranges between €0.30 and €0.50 excluding VAT per package. In the case of a sign that distributes around 30 packets daily, 5 days a week, it can pay itself a gain of 180 to 300 euros in the month. A plus that encourages small Toulouse brands to provide this service.
For La Poste alone, there are no less than 150 partner shops (Pickup and Point Contact services included). With the other main parcel carriers, the number rises to more than 200 stores offering a parcel service in the Pink City. “There is a strong increase in our activities. We are on a growth of more than 20% compared to previous years”, mentions Christophe Francisco, the project manager of DHL.