Trends in e-fulfilment: lockers, Chinese platforms and AI

Parcel delivery company DPD sees that collection points are becoming more popular and is going to triple the number of lockers next year, CEO Erik Uljee told the ‘E-fulfilment excellence’ event. Another trend that was highlighted is that consumers are ordering more often directly from Chinese companies. So what about product liability? Finally, Artificial Intelligence (AI) was also discussed. DPD has used it to build a forecasting model to predict workloads.

By Harm Beerens

‘More and more consumers prefer to pick up parcels ordered online at a pick-up point nearby, rather than have it delivered to their homes,’ says Erik Uljee, opening the event organised by Holland International Distribution Council (HIDC) in Eindhoven. He shows figures from a European study showing that ‘parcel points’ are more established in other countries than with us. ‘In Eastern Europe, we see that already almost 50% of parcels are picked up, and I expect this to increase in the Netherlands as well.’ To respond to this, DPD is going to invest heavily in parcel vending machines. ‘We have 3,000 parcel points in the Benelux, with lockers at 243 locations. By the end of the year, there will be 900.’

A potential benefit of consumers collecting their parcels is that delivery services do not have to go into the neighbourhood as often. This makes e-fulfilment more sustainable. ‘By 2030, we will reduce our CO2 footprint by 43%, and by 90% by 2040,’ Uljee says. DPD is doing this partly by systematically electrifying its delivery vans, of which there are 2,000 in the Benelux. ‘What people sometimes don’t realise is that the last mile comprises only 30% of our footprint. Most of it is in the long haul, the transport between depots and international hubs for which we use LHVs (Longer and Heavier Vehicles, ed.). These too will eventually become electric, but for now we are making them more sustainable by running them on Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO). This saves 90% on CO2 emissions compared to regular diesel.’

Concerns about Chinese platforms

Another development is that Chinese platforms such as Temu, Shein and AliExpress are becoming increasingly popular. ‘The proportion of deliveries from outside the EU is rising, and with it concerns about product liability,’ says lawyer Marijn van Tuijl (pictured) of law firm Ploum. ‘If you order a product that is defective, or contains toxic substances, for example, you should be able to hold someone liable for it. Normally this is the manufacturer. But if such a manufacturer has no establishment within the EU, and there is no importer, that becomes difficult. There has been a law since 2021 – the Market Surveillance Regulation – which says that in such a case, the fulfilment service provider is liable.’

A murmur arises in the room. Does this mean that parties like DPD can be held liable for the contents of the parcels they handle? ‘No,’ explains Van Tuijl. ‘Under this law, it only concerns service providers who stock a product and arrange shipping for a manufacturer. Parcel delivery companies do not usually do this and are therefore exempt from it. Although somewhere that is quite strange. It means that in the case of drop shipments from China, for which there is no manufacturer or importer in Europe, legally no one can be held liable. You might wonder whether that is desirable.’

Major changes due to AI

A third trend mentioned at the knowledge meeting is AI. ‘This is going to lead to major changes in all areas of e-fulfilment,’ expects speaker Steven Kersbergen of logistics service provider Fulfilment Solutions. He cites ‘hyperpersonalisation’, or the art of offering an online consumer exactly the services he or she desires, as an example. ‘But AI has already proven its value in logistics too,’ Kersbergen argues. ‘I see that in our own warehouse. There, AI-based algorithms determine in which locations a product should be stored. This has made us much more efficient.’

At DPD, AI is being deployed to predict workloads, reports COO Rick Pardoel. ‘We have developed a forecasting model that uses internal and external data to accurately estimate how many parcels we can expect on a day. Here at the hub in Eindhoven, we can process 25,000 parcels per hour, but how much capacity we really need varies from day to day. In the past, we often had to make adjustments in personnel during the day, but now we work with scenarios. Based on the forecast, we determine which scenario applies on which day. That way, everyone knows where they stand.’

Stress in the workplace decreased

DPD has three hubs, 20 depots and 3,000 parcel points in the Benelux. The Eindhoven location houses the international hub as well as a regional depot. Now that DPD has got a better grip on demand, Pardoel sees that reliability has increased. ‘We got through the peak period in December without any delays. And just as important: the stress on the shop floor has decreased. There has been more calmness, which has also reduced absenteeism. The latter in particular is something we as a company can be quite proud of.’