• The agreement represents an advance in bringing small and medium-sized businesses closer to e-commerce, adapting to consumer needs and offering new services.
  • The process of connecting businesses to the network of points of convenience (ParcelShops) is simple and fast.

 

Madrid, 2 April 2019. The Spanish Confederation of Commerce (CEC) and the parcel and express transport company GLS Spain have signed a collaboration agreement that will allow small and medium-sized businesses to become shipping and collection points for eCommerce. At a particularly difficult time for the retail sector, this agreement will allow local businesses to offer consumers an additional value service in their establishments. Presumably, thousands of businesses will be integrated into GLS Spain’s nationwide ParcelShop network.

 

The parcel and express service company provides participating merchants with the promotional material and technical resources necessary for their start up. For the secretary general of the CEC, José Guerrero Huesca, “this agreement is a great incentive for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as being a great opportunity for all of them to take part in the digitalisation of the sector and continue to adapt to the needs of today’s consumers, offering them alternatives to their main commercial activity and boosting purchases in small and medium-sized businesses.”

 

Further benefits

Strengthening the sector and giving it momentum is one of the main objectives of the agreement. Online shopping is growing in Spain and more and more consumers want to collect, send or return their shipments conveniently and quickly. The ParcelShops are an ideal solution for proximity, and businesses will see an increase of the number of customers in their stores.

 

In this sense, Gabriel Di Lodovico, ParcelShop Developer Manager of GLS Spain, points out that “the agreement will bring the recipients closer to the traditional shops, making more and more shops visited by new customers who will improve their shopping experience. Businesses, in turn, will be able to offer more and better services.”

The visibility of the participating businesses will also increase. Buyers will be able to select the address of the store as the point of collection for their parcels and they will also be able to make national and international shipments. All in one place.

The establishments will be connected to a leading brand in the European parcel market that has more than 20,000 ParcelShops across Europe – currently over 4,100 of them in Spain.

 

About CEC

The Spanish Confederation of Commerce (CEC) is the business organisation for the defence, representation and promotion of the general interests of urban and local trade. It is made up of 19 confederations and 49 regional and provincial federations of self-employed and small and medium-sized businesses, as well as national sectoral organisations, representing around 450,000 traders. As the most representative organization of small and medium trade, it accommodates 26 % of the country’s self-employed and more than 1,200,000 workers.

 

About GLS Spain and the GLS Group

GLS Spain is a subsidiary of General Logistics Systems B.V. (headquartered in Amsterdam). GLS realises reliable, high-quality parcel services for over 270,000 customers, complemented by logistics and express services. “Quality leader in European parcel logistics” is GLS’ guiding principle, sustainability being one of the core values. Through wholly owned and partner companies, the Group provides a network coverage of 41 European and eight U.S. states and is globally connected via contractual agreements. Over 50 centrl transhipment points and more than 1,000 depots and agencies are at GLS’ disposal. With its ground based network GLS is one of the leading parcel service providers in Europe. GLS counts 18,000 employees and every day around 30,000 vehicles are on route for GLS. In the financial year 2017/18 GLS achieved revenues of 2.9 billion euros and transported 584 million parcels.

 

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