In the past year, 21 million adults in the United Kingdom used a parcel locker to collect, return or send a parcel. This comes down to two in five adults. During that period, more than 115 million parcels were delivered or returned via lockers.
These data come from research from InPost and Retail Economics, which were based on a survey of 2,000 households and parcel volume data. According to the researchers, the data show a shift in consumer delivery preferences among online shoppers in the United Kingdom.
7% of online orders delivered to lockers
In the last 12 months, 7 percent of all online orders (87 million deliveries) were delivered in parcel lockers in the country. And 28 million returns were sent via lockers, which comes down to 12 percent of all online returns.
Usage expected to increase
According to the survey, another 20 percent of online shoppers in the United Kingdom have not used parcel lockers yet, but are open to doing so. The usage of parcel lockers is expected to increase in the coming twelve months.
In the past year, 66% of Gen Z online shoppers have used parcel lockers.
Currently, the adoption of parcel lockers is strong among younger consumers. At least 66 percent of Gen Z and 54 percent of Millennials used lockers in the past year. And more than half of people younger than 45 use them monthly, at least. Shoppers in the middle-income group are the most frequent users of parcel lockers. One in three of them plan to use lockers more often this year.
39% YoY growth in processed parcels
The increased usage of parcel lockers is also visible in InPost’s results. The parcel locker service processed 24 million parcels in the United Kingdom, during the first quarter of this year. This was an increase of 39 percent year-on-year. The company currently has more than 10,000 lockers and around 16,000 out-of-home (OOH) locations in the country.
‘Lockers have gone fully mainstream’
“The locker market has experienced immense growth over the last year, thanks to the insatiable appetite of consumers for convenient delivery solutions that fit in seamlessly with their busy lives. Once considered a niche segment of the OOH delivery market that was mainly used by younger, digital savvy shoppers, lockers have gone fully mainstream. And as our research shows, this staggering demand shows no signs of slowing down with every age group planning to use lockers more in the next year”, said Neil Kuschel, CEO at InPost.