Lidl UK installs online collection lockers in stores

Lidl has installed lockers in 24 of its stores across the United Kingdom. This enables the supermarket customers to collect and return online orders from other retailers, such as JD Sports and Boohoo. The in-store lockers are the result of a new partnership with InPost.

Parcel locker provider InPost has placed the lockers in 24 different locations across London, Birmingham and Manchester. There, users can collect parcels they ordered online while they are doing their groceries at the supermarket. The lockers, accessed with a QR-code, can also be used to return online orders.

Trip-chaining made possible

By picking up or returning online orders while doing groceries, customers can minimize their trips away from their homes. This is called trip-chaining. It’s particularly handy nowadays, with the coronavirus outbreak. InPost’s CEO Jason Tavaria says it’s vital that people in the United Kingdom are able to maximize each trip and not make unnecessary additional journeys.

Contact-free outbound resource

“Installing delivery lockers at one of the UK’s best-loved supermarkets allows them to do this and also provides a useful, contact-free outbound resource at a time when many Post Offices are closed”, he added. According to his company, 68 percent of respondents said Lidl was an ideal place for the lockers, while 85 percent said the lockers were their reason for visiting this particular supermarket.

85% say the lockers were their reason for visiting Lidl.

Lidl and InPost partnered in Poland

Last year, Lidl started a similar partnership with InPost in Poland, with two pilot parcel lockers having already been installed outside Lidl stores in Poznan in 2018. InPost was founded in Poland in 2006. In this Eastern European country, many online shoppers use lockers.