Finnish retailer K-Group implements parcel terminals

K-Group, a major retail company from Finland, has started a pilot with automatic parcel terminals. The new service allows online buyers to have parcels from online stores from everywhere in the world to be shipped to a terminal at a K-Group store.

The automatic terminals are available for shared use by all parcel service providers and are in use at a K-Citymarket and a K-Supermarket in Tampere since the first of March. It’s no coincidence the pilot project is being held in Tampere, as this Finnish city wants to be an example in technological development and to serve as a platform for business development.

Parcel and postal services in Finland

“We already offer the most comprehensive parcel and postal services in the grocery trade in Finland through the approximately 850 K-Food stores throughout the country”, says Petri Toivonone, K-Group Service Director. “We are now introducing the first pilot of a new service in Finland. The goal is to offer customers an easy and responsible method to retrieve their various web store orders from a single location.”

Expansion to other K-Group stores

For K-Group, the terminals should of course lead to more purchases in the accompanying supermarkets. To implement the automatic parcel terminals, the retail group has partnered with Smartmile, a Dutch company that offers a shared online delivery platform to cities in Europe. If the pilot happens to be successful, the service will also be expanded to other K-Group stores across the country.