Yes bank Smart boxes to act as pick up points for ecommerce deliveries

Yes Bank has come up with the concept similar to personalised post boxes. The bank is looking at tying up with ecommerce companies to provide a ‘Smart box’ service where customers can pick up their orders from a pick-up point.

The concept is not exactly revolutionary. Many leading ecommerce companies have tried to incorporate the idea of having customers pick up their parcels from a common place rather than have it delivered to their door step. Recently Flipkart’s Ekart signed on Apollo pharmacy to serve as pick-up points. Amazon explored this option as early as in 2014, when it enlisted the help of local kirana stores to act as pick-up points.

Self service the key

However, what makes Yes Bank’s Smart boxes different is the fact that the buyer can operate the sealed box on their own. The Smart boxes will be placed at spots located near the buyer’s home or work place. The buyer is given a unique access code via SMS, which opens the box. The buyer can swipe the card at a point of sale (PoS) machine placed near the box (which opens the box), collect the parcel, and leave.

Ritesh Pai Senior President and Country Head of Digital Banking, YES Bank explains how it will work, “Whenever you order your consignment, your ecommerce marketplace will prompt you by saying, ‘By the way there is a smart box located nearby (based on your pin code). Would you like to opt for delivery there?’

If you agree, then the logistics guy will deliver it there (where it will remain for three days) and you will get an SMS alert and a one-time password to access the smart box.”

Pilot at Delhi

Currently 12 such boxes have been set up at densely populated areas like corporate parks, and residential areas in Delhi. Yes bank is planning to increase this number to 125 by June. The pilot is being carried out with small websites.

Saving on logistics

This move will simplify the delivery process and save the wastage of resources on multiple trips. The money thus saved can be channelled towards more productive pursuits.