Itella to set up Cleveron self-service parcel terminals in S Groups retail stores

Aug. 27, 2012 - PRLog -- According to the agreement between Itella and one of the biggest retail chains in Finland, S Group, the first terminals will be in installed in 2012. By 2015, the total number of terminals in S Group retail stores should reach 350. The first terminals will open this year in their S-market flagship stores as well as in ABC service stations and supermarkets owned by S Group.

Currently, 75 parcel terminals are already in service around Finland. According to Aku Happo, Itella’s VP of Parcel Services, their popularity is on the rise. The agreement with S Group will especially benefit smaller communities, since many of the planned locations for the terminals will be smaller retail stores and service stations. “Clearly, e-commerce is one of the main forces behind the broadening demand for parcel terminals,” Happo said.

Itella’s parcel solution provider Cleveron, initial owner of the brand SmartPOST that Itella acquired in 2010, witnessed quick adoption rates of their terminals in Estonia, where their customer base grew to around 20% of the total population in just 3 years. According to Cleveron's export director Indrek Oolup, the choice of location for the terminals is crucial, since the idea is to streamline customers’ daily routines by bringing postal services together with daily shopping.

In April, Itella announced an agreement with Kesko, Finnish retailing conglomerate, to install automated parcel points in all the existing and future K-citymarket chain stores by the end of 2013.

S Group is a Finnish retailing cooperative organization, founded in 1904. It consists of 22 regional cooperatives operating all around Finland in the markets for groceries, consumer durables, service station, hotel and restaurant services, agricultural supplies, and car sales. The group has businesses in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia.

Itella Group provides solutions for managing information and product flows. Itella operates in the fields of mail communications, logistics, and financial management in Europe and Russia.

Cleveron offers parcel delivery solutions for postal service providers in all developed markets. The company was founded in 2007 in Estonia. Currently Cleveron’s solutions are used by postal operators in Finland, Estonia, Russia and Ukraine.

Self-service parcel delivery solutions are a modern, automated alternative to post offices and couriers, providing a cost-effective and fast way of sending and receiving postal parcels.



Additional information:
Indrek Oolup
Export Director, Cleveron Ltd
indrek@cleveron.ee
+372 505 6222