Let us face it – we are getting busier day by day and any sort of purchase convenience can go a long way. And click-to-collect is just that! This is true from a customer’s perspective. In the grander scheme of things, from a retailer’s POV, Click-to-Collect technology is not new. However, it is only now that Click-to-Collect tech is being adopted rapidly.  

“Wherever last-mile deliveries are involved, or brick and mortar setups are established, click-to-collect lockers are nothing short of a boon for last-mile package management”

But what are they? How do they work? And what are the benefits? 

We will answer all these questions in this guide blog for you.  

Let us get going! 

 

 

Click-to-Collect Lockers in a Nutshell 

Digital parcel lockers are the forerunner of click-to-collect revolution – both in terms of technology and keeping the stakeholders happy (retailers, carriers, and customers). 

Click-to-collect system is based on the idea of delivering a parcel to an enclosed smart locker system. These package lockers have a self-service touchscreen kiosk that enables the carrier to drop the parcel in the locker. 

As soon as the carrier drops (or collects) the package, the recipient gets an instant notification via SMS (Short Message Service) and/or email with a ‘One-Time Password.’ A thing to note here is that not all smart package lockers may use OTP (One Time Password) for secure package retrieval like Smartbox.  

The recipient can now access the package anytime with the one-time password at their convenience.  

These digital parcel lockers can be placed anywhere. Most suitable locations for an efficient click-to-collect locker network include multifamily units, commercial and office buildings, university campuses and in-store premises. 

You are probably wondering about how convenient such a system would be for everyday urban, campus and office life. You are right! 

Wondering how C2C lockers work? Here is what you need to know. 

 

How Click-to-Collect Lockers Function? 

Click-to-Collect lockers are based on multiple existing and pioneering technologies. The system can be broken down broadly into a) Hardware, and b) Software.

The following brief should give you a lucid picture of how everything works behind the scenes.  

The hardware comprises of the physical locker units along with the touchscreen interface and add-on locker units with varying compartment sizes. The software typically is a home-grown program that connects the hardware to the cloud, displays user-control over the screen, and executes the right logic.  

A thing to note about click-to-collect lockers is the software security. Having secure and encrypted software in place is critical to avoid data theft, hacking, or any potential breach of security.  

Think of the hardware as the body and software as the soul of smart package locker systems. 

The hardware and software of click-to-collect lockers are married to each other via IoT devices and electro-mechanicals to ensure life-long smooth functioning of the units.  

A well-built and proven system like Smartbox is not only highly secure, but also easy to maintain no matter what your business application or utility is.  

 

The Benefits of Using Click-to-Collect Lockers 

With great technology comes great convenience. Being the OEM manufacturer of Smartbox package locker systems, we have had the opportunity to discover the benefits that our customers enjoy every day.  

Here is why you will love the click-to-collect locker system for your daily life. 

 

Benefits for Customers 

👉No Coordination with Delivery Agents 

A great aspect of any automation is that it takes away the human effort to coordinate and complete a process. In this case – a delivery agent calls you (or you receive a notification) about the package you ordered. In case you are not at home, the parcel is backordered. You might just miss the gift you ordered for your spouse at the last hour, or groceries that you thought would make for a good dinner that night.  

With the click-to-collect locker system installed in your multifamily premises, the picture changes forever. The delivery agent can simply scan the package, open a vacant locker, and place your package with full security in the C2C locker system.  

Viola! Collect it whenever you want without any interruptions.  

 

🕘24×7 Access to Your Package 

Here is a scenario. You just came back home after a long day at work. You changed, had a glass of juice, and went to bed for a quick nap. Then – ting! Tong! Your order delivery arrives. That momentary inconvenience of having to open the door is just too annoying. Or imagine a scenario when your package has already arrived, and you will not be able to reach home on time. Would you care to miss it? Absolutely not! 

With smart package lockers, you get the advantage of retrieving your package anytime at your convenience.  

For instance, with Smartbox, you can simply go to the touchscreen terminal, enter your One-time password, and collect the package whenever you get time. It is as simple as it gets! 

 

🚨No More Porch Piracy 

Close to a whopping $6 billion (about $18 per person in the US) is lost to porch piracy alone in the USA. Imagine this dent on a global scale – the numbers will inflate quickly on a massive scale. While the e-commerce boom has enabled access to global retailers and convenience of online shopping, the packages are not immune to prying eyes when left unattended post-delivery. 

You may or may not have had a brush with porch piracy, but this has already happened to 1 out of 6 people around you. Losing a valuable package to a thief can be incredibly frustrating. Not only is it a monetary loss for a customer, but also an adversary to their experience quotient.  

This is where a click-to-collect system comes in to save the day.  

Smart package lockers (or digital parcel lockers) are built from the ground up to safely harbor any package for time spanning days and weeks.  

Until the rightful owner of the shipped parcel opens the locker compartment with the one-time password, it is virtually impossible to retrieve it by any other means. How, you ask?

 

Consider this for instance in the case of SMARTBOX package lockers; 

✅All compartments are tamper-proof

✅All locker compartments are internally hinged

✅Sturdy galvanized iron construction

✅CCTV Surveillance

✅Alarm System 

 

All these features ensure that an effective security system is in place to guard each package without manual intervention or need for any staff. Not to state the obvious – peace of mind is guaranteed😇 

 

For instance, Smartbox remote locker control and usage analytics help you to; 

✅Know about locker occupancy 

✅Locker usage details 

✅Package delivery trends 

✅Transaction timings 

✅Troubleshooting 

✅User analytics 

Plus, you reduce staff burnout and make sure that every package reaches its rightful owner via Smartbox’s round the clock click-and-collect service. 

 

Benefits for Retailers and Carriers 

🚀Faster and More Efficient Deliveries 

What if we told you that Smartbox can reduce your average drop-off time for a single package from 4 minutes to 10 seconds? 

We bet you will love it.  

The entire process of interacting with Smartbox parcel lockers and dropping/returning a package is slick and pleasant – a subtle but strong process-design example between Human-Machine Interface and their real-world applications.  

Carrier agents simply arrive at Smartbox to deliver any number of packages within a given building/campus/premises. They scan each package, and the apt locker compartment opens. The agent simply places all the packages within the Smartbox compartments – notifying the rightful recipient for each package via SMS.  

The recipients can now collect their delivered package at any time with a secure OTP. Super convenient! 

 

🌲Greener Business Footprint 

It is implied that the lesser time a vehicle spends running on the road, the lesser its overall emissions. Smartbox digital locker systems enable carriers to achieve a 100% first-time delivery success rate – a factor that cuts-down on delivery reattempts, backorders, and return trips for the delivery agents.  

Not to say if you are a customer-centric business with sustainability and ecological initiatives as core values, a robust digital package locker system can be of massive value for you. It will enhance your logistics bottom line and NPS (Net Promoter Score) in favor of cutting down the overall carbon emissions. 

 

😍Enhanced Customer Experience 

Smartbox digital parcel locker earns you more than just last-mile profitability and eco-sustainability credits.  

CX is a core control and growth metric for all B2C businesses. This metric becomes even more critical if last-mile delivery of a physical product is involved. 

Smartbox smart lockers automate last-mile deliveries and reduce manual intervention of any sort for both the customer and the carrier. Once a package is dropped-off within the Smartbox locker ecosystem, it can be retrieved by the recipient any time, securely, without any worry of package loss or theft.  

For delivery and logistics companies, Click-to-Collect lockers are an excellent solution to mitigate last-mile inefficiencies and boost the CX bottom line. 

 

📡Remote Control and Analytics 

For online retailers, carriers, and big box stores, click-to-collect lockers help optimize last-mile deliveries. But what if they choose to have their own locker network spread across multiple locations? Would that be feasible and easy to manage given that managing multiple lockers within the network can be a tedious task? 

Rationality dictates that there should be a centralized monitoring and analytics-tracking system that can help you no matter where you are in the world.  

The in-built remote monitoring, analytics, and control of the entire Smartbox suite helps managers to get a real-time view of locker usage.

Smartbox’s software is cloud-first, fully encrypted, and easy to operate.

 

For instance, Smartbox remote locker control and usage analytics help you to; 

✅Know about locker occupancy 

✅Locker usage details 

✅Package delivery trends 

✅Transaction timings 

✅Troubleshooting 

✅User analytics 

 

Plus, you reduce staff burnout and make sure that every package reaches its rightful owner via Smartbox’s round the clock click-and-collect service. 

 

What is Your Take on Smart Package Lockers? 

A faster exchange of packages at the last-mile touchpoints is the way forward for logistics, retail, and customer experience innovation.  

This global gap in manual package deliveries is rife with inefficiencies. At the same time, it is also an opportunity brimming with potential for mutual growth of businesses as well as customers.  

With Smartbox, you can accelerate your last-mile profitability and experience with up to 3x ROI. Allow us to explain how over a demo call for you. 

Stay tuned!