DIE WELT (Germany)
BERLIN – By 2016 Deutsche Post wants to have its own national online food retail operation up and running.
A spokeswoman said the company has been planning the move for some time and that the challenge was setting up a system of outlets around Germany that would stock a wide selection of foods, Die Welt reports.
Deutsche Post is presently testing ways to dispatch refrigerated and frozen items in special dry-ice packaging. The company is also looking at refrigeration units that would be installed in DHL delivery trucks – DHL is a Deutsche Post subsidiary.
Cooling issues are not the biggest problem: effective systems need to be put into place in order to get orders to customers swiftly. Customers would be advised that their order was filled and underway by e-mail or SMS, and could select the time and place of delivery – for example, the office in the evening just before they called it a day and headed home.
In December 2011, Deutsche Post bought shares in allyouneed.com, on online food store, and now owns 90% of it. The company is looking to build other partnerships with online food retailers.
Deutsche Post already delivers some pretty cool things:
Photos Deutsche Post
