Zalando is trialling a fulfilment service that uses geolocation to deliver online orders to shoppers via cycle couriers wherever they are, Retail Week can reveal.
The service, which is being tested in Belgium, allows customers to make last-minute decisions about delivery locations via a smartphone app.
Shoppers can select locations as specific as coffee shops or a friend’s house.
Zalando has developed the service in conjunction with Belgian courier firm Parcify.
The online fashion retailer is piloting the scheme in Brussels, Ghent and Antwerp.
Zalando is encouraging shoppers to download the app and test the system, which also allows couriers to track shoppers down using the geolocation information in their phones, and to send push notifications to users when packages are close to arriving.
The service is available to use seven days a week, from 7am until midnight.
During the trial period, customers will be able to use the service free of charge.
It marks the latest move from the German etailer in its drive to woo online shoppers with convenient delivery options.
Zalando Benelux country manager Ken Fontijn said the company is “reducing the barriers of online shopping”, including the need to make shoppers wait at home for deliveries.
Fontijn said: “Instead of asking our customers to go somewhere or be somewhere, we want to be where our customers are.”
The trial began earlier this month and will last until the end of June.
Zalando refused to reveal whether it planned to extend the pilot beyond the three Belgian cities.
Brussels-based Parcify operates a network of cycle couriers throughout the three large cities in Belgium and can be accessed by its smartphone app or as an option at ecommerce checkouts.
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