Efficient and sustainable: myflexbox facilitates returns in Germany and Austria

Smart parcel lockers are a convenient way to handle returns around the clock, especially at Christmas – even on public holidays.

This year’s Christmas season not only brings festive cheer, but also a significant increase in parcel volumes. In this context, myflexbox presents its innovative parcel locker network in Germany and Austria as a solution to manage the flood of returns at Christmas and save time, stress and resources in the process. Online retail is booming, and with it the number of returned parcels is also increasing. According to a recent market analysis, around 400 million parcels will be sent in Germany this Christmas. The picture is similar in Austria: Austrian Post alone expected around 19.6 million parcels in December 2022. This is also reflected in returns. In 2021, German and Austrian online retailers received a total of almost 530 million returns with around 1.3 billion items¹. In other words, almost one in four parcels is returned. Customers are often faced with the challenge of returning unwanted items, whether due to size problems, incorrect deliveries or other reasons. myflexbox simplifies this process and relies on the advantages of its networked parcel lockers.

Time saving and convenience

The simple and fast 24/7 returns processing via the smart lockers offers a high degree of flexibility. For example, customers avoid extra trips to often distant parcel stores or branches that are only open at certain times. Long queues are also eliminated with the smart return, which can be carried out in just a few steps at the parcel locker and is therefore very user-friendly. This helps to minimize Christmas stress and free up time for the really important things.

Focus on environmental protection

In addition to providing intelligent infrastructure, myflexbox is also committed to the environment. By using the parcel lockers, unnecessary journeys are avoided, as most returns are made on the routes already taken. This concept, also known as “trip chaining”, leads to a reduction in the carbon footprint and actively supports the sustainability goals of all partners involved, such as (online) retailers, parcel services, cities, municipalities, etc. A look at the resulting emissions shows that this is important when it comes to returns: The retail companies surveyed in the aforementioned study¹ by the University of Bamberg disclosed their CO₂ footprint per returned item: Measured in CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e), this amounts to approx. 1,500 grams. Extrapolated with the volume of returns in Germany, this would have resulted in an estimated 795,000 tons of CO₂e in 2021. This amount corresponds to 5.3 billion car kilometers.

Efficient network reaches further milestones

The higher the network density, the more efficient the entire platform becomes. This is why myflexbox is focusing on growth: just recently, further milestones were reached: one year after the first myflexbox was set up in Germany, there are now already over 120, many of them in the four largest cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne. In Austria, myflexbox has become the sole market leader and largest smart locker network with currently 500+ parcel lockers.

Wave of returns: A challenge for e-commerce

Returns are part of the business model for many online retailers. Especially when it comes to fashion, many more items are ordered than necessary… the rest are simply sent back. The returns business intensifies at Christmas: The gift doesn’t fit or doesn’t please, is the wrong color or you already have it. For many retailers, this situation is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the high returns rate causes them considerable effort and high (shipping) costs. The products have to be viewed, checked and prepared for sale again. On the other hand, they do not want to scare off customers with additional costs in a competitive market. This is because returns management plays a crucial role in the customer journey. At this touchpoint, customers want simple, free handling with little effort. Those who design the returns process accordingly can look forward to greater customer loyalty and a higher return rate.

More sustainable online shopping

Against this backdrop, it seems to make a lot of sense from the customer’s perspective to store more sustainably online and from the retailer’s perspective to minimize the returns rate. For example, some e-commerce companies design their checkout in such a way that their customers can choose to make an additional monetary contribution to the environment. Other options include more precise product descriptions, optimizing size recommendations, bundling orders, etc. Some companies have tightened their returns policy to prevent the misuse of returns. Returns management can also be made more sustainable, for example by reusing packaging or donating products to charity. All of this can help to reduce the number of daily returns.

Source: ¹ Estimate from the University of Bamberg, Returns Management Research Group: European Return-o-Meter / EUROM, the first European retailer survey on returns management in e-commerce, n=411

Picture credits: Marco Riebler / myflexbox.

A blog post has also been published on this topic.

About myflexbox

myflexbox is a smart city company with the aim of minimizing CO₂ emissions on the last mile throughout Europe, caused by unsuccessful doorstep deliveries and traffic chaos caused by delivery services in cities. End customers can use myflexbox 24/7 to conveniently and contactlessly receive, send and return parcels and goods. Since its foundation in 2018, the last-mile specialist has established itself as the largest carrier-neutral smart locker network in the German-speaking world. The parcel lockers are an efficient 24-hour alternative to traditional parcel stores and support the megatrend of out-of-home delivery.

Press contact myflexbox

Florian Nack
PR Manager
press@myflexbox.com