bpost has launched the bbox boutique, a hub designed to reinvent urban parcel logistics for local residents, consumers, retailers and public authorities.
The first four boutiques in Brussels and Antwerp will see bpost experimenting with new logistics services, while facilitating the sending and collecting of parcels.
With the new facilities, the company aims to test and roll out new services for different target groups:
For consumers and retailers:
- Allowing neighborhood residents or passers-by to collect and send parcels.
- Offering promotions or product launches for e-commerce companies in search of a physical location in the city, where they can also offer their best-selling products to consumers.
- Sending items without labels or packaging from one private individual to another.
For local communities:
- Click & Collect for local shops: the retailer places the order in a locker, and the buyer collects it whenever they want, even outside opening hours.
- Offering same-day pickup of missed deliveries for city residents.
- Renting bbox lockers as private storage for residents or visitors during shopping trips or museum visits.
For logistics players:
- Offering same-day delivery through ‘microwarehousing’: this allows e-commerce players to have orders delivered on the same day from their warehouses around the city to a bbox boutique.
- Night delivery for businesses: postal workers deliver professionals’ work materials during the night to a bbox boutique near their workplace or home, saving them time in the morning by avoiding a stop at the company depot.
The bbox boutiques are accessible from 6:00am to 9:00pm, and accessible outside those hours via a QR code linked to the specific parcel. The units are constantly monitored and cleaned daily to ensure a safe and reliable experience for all users.
In recent weeks, four boutiques have opened in ‘soft launch’ mode, two in Brussels and two in Antwerp. These locations are reportedly processing a growing number of parcels per day, confirming the demand for such urban solutions. Interest is also coming from commercial partners, who are reaching out to test or offer services in the boutiques, bpost says.
Laurens Himpe, chief automated parcel officer at bpost, said, “It’s our ideas factory: a place where we test, learn and develop new services that we can then scale up. In cities, we face the greatest demand but limited space, making it the perfect environment for innovation. Thanks to this concept, we can offer better out-of-home solutions, from parcel services to collaborations with public authorities and circular partners. In this way, we connect the digital world with a physical experience space.”
In related news, Austrian Post and OBB to install parcel lockers at train stations