Officeworks Lockers

Officeworks to offer in-store parcels service

• by: Eli Greenblat

Senior Business Reporter
Melbourne
Mike Ward says there is potential to expand the Mailman service throughout the Wesfarmers stable. Picture: David Geraghty Source: News Corp Australia
Officeworks will today launch a new parcel delivery service that will piggyback the chain’s national network of stores to turn them into mini Australia Post outlets.
The company, part of the Wesfarmers stable, is hoping to grab a lucrative share of the booming parcel business.
Called Mailman, it will be pitched as the best priced parcel service for packages under 10kg, as Officeworks seeks to hook into a growing flood of parcels originating from small businesses that are typically online and selling products through the mail.
Officeworks managing director Mark Ward believes Mailman could eventually be rolled out into other retail formats owned by Wesfarmers, such as Coles, Bunnings, Target and Kmart, with drop-off lockers positioned inside or outside stores in a similar fashion to the placement at Officeworks outlets.
“We are a separate business with one parent but if we are able to facilitate that and it makes sense for those businesses then that’s an approach we will make,’’Mr Ward told The Australian.
Officeworks has just over 150 stores in Australia, but taking out space in Coles or Bunnings would push Mailman’s footprint to well over 1000 locations. “Initially we want to make sure that customers are visiting Officeworks and we are providing a great service, but we do believe it’s an expandable service,’’ Mr Ward said.
There was also potential for the Mailman service to link with other companies outside of the Wesfarmers corporate family. “It could expand to other services within the group, it could expand to other businesses outside the group, and we might find the volumes are so substantial we might need more lockers,’’ he said.
Officeworks has offered parcel delivery before to its mostly small business customer base, but the Mailman offering has been automated to remove much of the hassle and time taken up when customers had to line up to lodge mail with staff.
Mailman will allow customers to use a drop-off service while address labels can be printed, removing the need for queuing.
“Customers were asking us to give them an easy, simple, cost-effective parcel delivery service because the way the Australian economy is changing to this sharing economy and services economy they are selling to other people and they need to move parcels around and receive parcels,’’ Mr Ward said.
He said his small business customer base, which makes up a sizeable slice of the $12 billion office supplies market, remained cautious as the cooling of the resources boom rippled through the non-mining economy.
“It’s business as usual but with a degree of wait and see how the economy is shaking out and how it is reshaping,” he said.
“The changing nature of our economy with the resources becoming a normal business rather than a boom, and as we move more into this ‘services economy’ and ‘sharing economy’, people are now on that journey in Australia as to what that will look and feel like.’’
Officeworks reported pre-tax earnings last year up 10.8 per cent to $103 million on a 4.6 per cent gain in sales to $1.6bn.