7. October 2021 | Service Update
Piccadilly SA: Our new DPD pickup partner in Ticino
Our network is growing!
Our DPD Pickup parcelshops are an integral part of our network and our Pickup team takes care of the support, the process optimisation of the system and the expansion of the DPD Pickup parcelshop infrastructure on a daily basis. This expansion enjoys special attention, as it is of great importance for us to be accessible from everywhere. The Ticino catchment area was one of those where our presence was not yet very large.
With our new partner in Ticino, Piccadilly SA, a Ticino family business that has been active in the petrol station and retail business since 1954, we have been able to gain a new, very reliable and widespread partner, which we are very pleased about.
In this interview with our Pickup Coordinator & Field Executive, Alessandro Demaldi you can find out how we got in touch with Piccadilly SA and which requirements are important for a partnership.
DPD: What is Piccadilly and where can you find the locations?
Alessandro: "Piccadilly is a family-owned petrol station in Ticino. They started in 1954 and currently own 40 petrol stations in Ticino, some with and some without staff. The petrol stations are located throughout Ticino and often in border areas. But they are mainly in the southern part of the Ticino.
DPD: What are the advantages?
Alessandro: "Piccadilly's big advantage is that with the petrol stations the synergy for recipients can be very big: You can refuel, shop, there are always parking spaces available and they have very long opening hours. In addition, Piccadilly's petrol stations have partnerships with Migrolino, so walk-in customers can also find their favourite Migros products in the petrol stations. The additional pick-up service (drop-off and pick-up of parcels) can attract more walk-in customers, who expect a very wide range of products."
DPD: What can customers and recipients look forward to?
Alessandro: "They can look forward to being closer to DPD. Before, recipients in Ticino were forced to travel long distances to send or receive their parcels. Recipients from the surrounding area can go to the shops they know. There is more flexibility for them (filling up with petrol / shopping / dropping off or picking up a parcel) and they can send or receive the parcel during their daily errands. For a few weeks now, you can quickly find a DPD Pickup parcelshop in the region without having to drive far."
DPD: What do you look for when you are looking for a new partner? Are there certain requirements that have to be done?
Alessandro: "Yes, there are definitely requirements that have to be done. In general, the shop must be well located. A partner must have a shop with good opening hours for customers and should be able to generate walk-in customers. Another requirement is that there is enough space to store the parcels."
DPD: Are there any exciting features of how I recognise DPD pickup parcelshops?
Alessandro: "All our DPD Pickup parcelshops are marked with the Pickup identification features (e.g. sign / flag display). The main feature of Piccadilly is that they are service stations of different types."
DPD: What was the basic idea behind the launch of the partner search? Why Piccadilly?
Alessandro: "The discussions with Piccadilly were spontaneous. The needs analysis of the responsible depot in Giubiasco showed that we need more pickup parcelshops in Ticino in order to be able to guarantee the services offered by DPD. And why Piccadilly? I am a native of Ticino and therefore I know the region very well. When it became clear that we needed a new partner, I looked around and came across Piccadilly. I was already familiar with Piccadilly and its network."
DPD: How many new DPD Pickup parcelshops have been created in Ticino as a result of the partnership?
Alessandro: "A total of 13 new DPD Pickup parcelshops have been created as a result of our partnership."
DPD: How did the launch of the partnership go?
Alessandro: "The launch of our partnership went very well. It is often that the new DPD Pickup parcelshops have low volumes in the first period of time until people get to know it. However, since our launch at the end of May 2021, things have been going very well. The staff have implemented the training very well.
People mainly find out about the availability of new shops by searching in Follow My Parcel.
At Piccadilly we have also delivered centralised training over 2 days, using the Train to Train method. This means that the store managers were trained and that they subsequently train all their employees independently.
Our partners are supervised every 4 months, and of course individually in the case of extraordinary concerns."
Many thanks to Alessandro Demaldi for the very informative interview.
Your DPD Switzerland Team
