Yamato turns to Doddle to create new nationwide PUDO network

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Yamato turns to Doddle to create new nationwide PUDO network.

Japan-based carrier – Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd. (‘Yamato’) – has partnered with UK-based international ecommerce solutions provider, Doddle, to create a proprietary nationwide PUDO network, underpinned by Doddle’s software platform.

The deal comes on the back of Doddle’s long-term partnership with Australia Post to power its Collect & Return network, and the growth of Doddle’s business in the USA as an authorised solutions partner to USPS. 

The partnership represents one of the first times Yamato – which has a 42% share of the parcel market in Japan – has worked with an international software business to support its transformation plan ‘Yamato NEXT 100’ - a commitment by the carrier to co-develop sustainably focused future delivery solutions that are both efficient and customer centric. 

Japan is the world’s fourth biggest ecommerce market and one of the fastest growing ecommerce markets globally (Statista, 2020), with 75% of the population regular ecommerce users (Practical Ecommerce, 2020).  Yamato currently ships 1.8 billion parcels annually, but with ecommerce demand in the country continuing to grow and with home delivery at 99% share, the need to provide more delivery options to consumers that are flexible, convenient and sustainable has become a strategic priority.  

The partnership will enable Yamato to lead the way in sustainable fulfilment while delivering on its ‘all for the customer’ promise.  Thanks to Doddle’s flexible, partner agnostic platform, customers will be able to choose to collect their parcels from some of the 240,000 Yamato partner shop network nationwide, with new partner locations expected to include some of the biggest retailers in Japan. 

Yutaka Nagao, President, Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd. said: “Yamato Group has been seeking proactive partnerships with startups in Japan and abroad possessing innovative technologies and business models for transforming logistics and supply chains. The collaboration with Doddle, a UK startup, is one of the most important such moves, and we are elated to announce this initiative with the company.

“We believe that utilization of Doddle’s cutting-edge digital technology in the last-mile business of e-commerce will enable us to offer a completely new collection experience to Japanese customers in the future. We will aim to establish an e-commerce ecosystem that provides the best value to all who engage in e-commerce by accelerating digital transformation (DX) through further cooperation between the two companies going forward.” 

Doddle’s end to end tech solution will enable customers to track the progress of their orders at every point of the journey from basket to collection and will enable Yamato Holding’s 33 million Kuroneko privilege club members to carry out in-flight diverts from home to a collection point or from one collection point to another, to offer the ultimate in customer convenience. 

Tim Robinson, CEO, Doddle, commented: “The global Covid pandemic has created an unprecedented boom in the already rapidly growing international ecommerce market. Click & collect is the fastest growing delivery option globally because it provides the natural solution - enabling companies to address inevitable capacity issues whilst delivering superior sustainability and a flexible customer experience.   

“Sector leaders like Yamato Holdings, are turning to Doddle because we have demonstrated in multiple thriving and challenging ecommerce markets just how easy it can be to create and manage an unrivalled nationwide PUDO network using our flexible and accessible technology.  We are excited to be working with Yamato – a carrier renowned worldwide for its customer experience – to demonstrate that customer experience and sustainability can be championed together.”