Customers can still count on fast and free shipping, but this shipping method is proving difficult to maintain for all but the largest businesses. For most e-commerce brands, maximizing operational efficiency is essential to maximize the value of shipping, which carries very tight margins. One thing is certain: traditional last-mile delivery methods must evolve to meet modern demands.
As we’ll show you, out-of-home delivery methods bring benefits that go beyond simply reducing costs; they can shape the future of last-mile logistics .
Here are the topics covered in this article:
- What factors are driving the adoption of out-of-home deliveries?
- Out-of-home deliveries, an effective solution for the last mile
- Are out-of-home deliveries mobile database a truly sustainable solution?
- Out-of-home deliveries increase the rate of successful deliveries
- How to optimize last-mile deliveries
- Why should merchants offer out-of-home deliveries at checkout?
What factors are driving the adoption of out-of-home deliveries?
On the Sendcloud platform, we’ve seen a 28% increase in deliveries to collection points.
To better understand this trend, we steps to identify trending content sent 4,000 European shoppers a survey on out-of-home deliveries . The results show that a majority of online shoppers have already requested delivery to a locker or relay point at least once:
- Relay points are widely used in France (77%) and the Netherlands (75%), these two countries being the biggest adopters of out-of-home delivery options.
- The Germans, for their part, prefer parcel lockers (46%) more than relay points (30%).
- British customers appreciate both parcel lockers (44%) and relay points (46%)
To understand this craze, we must first analyze the evolution of customer expectations:
– Matthijs Pluimers, Head of Parcel Lockers at PostNL
Customers want deliveries at their convenience
In 2025, online shoppers want to be able to choose how, where, and when their packages are delivered. Out-of-home delivery options, such as parcel lockers and collection points, offer them the ability to pick up their orders at a time of their choosing.
“[In BeNeLux], around 20-30% of text services consumers prefer delivery to a collection point. Why? People living in a household work outside the home or don’t have time to wait for a parcel to be delivered at home. The ‘anywhere, anytime, anyplace’ mentality has become widespread and consumers want to receive their parcel at the time of their choosing’ – Jorin Aardoom, Director Out of Home BeNeLux for DPD
According to our customer survey , 55% of shoppers say they choose out-of-home delivery so they don’t have to wait for their package to be delivered to their home.
perfectly with our objectives.” – Maarten Brondijk, Supply Chain Manager at Jimmy Joy
In fact, flexible delivery options appear to be a key way to attract more customers. In our out-of-home delivery survey , we asked online shoppers what factors most impact their decision to buy from one online store over another. The results show that 67% of online shoppers like being able to select a specific date and time at checkout, and 58% want the flexibility to change the delivery date and time while their package is in transit.
