The parcel forwarding companies JetBox, Box Correos and Aeropost reported increases of between 12% and 35% in the number of packages shipped in the last three years.
The boom in Internet (online) shopping has led leading delivery companies to open new delivery points and invest in technology in order to improve the service for end-users.
One of the most recent cases is that of Box Correos (Correos de Costa Rica) – the Costa Rica Post Office, which launched a network of automated devices for Internet shopping called Smart Post Cards (Apartados Postales Inteligentes or APIs in Spanish).
The APIs are self-service kiosks for merchandise is received by Post Office for customer pick up, that will be located in different parts of the country.
Jorge Solano Méndez, commercial manager for the Post Office explained that “… sustained year-on-year growth has been seen of more than 35% in the last three years. By 2018 we are thinking of opening new branches specialized in e-commerce and formalizing new alliances with international marketplaces in order to offer more options to Costa Ricans. ”
According to Solano, “the system will automatically send the customer an SMS message and an e-mail with the notice that the package is available, and with a security code that must be typed in order to automatically open the box where the package is located.”
For its part, so far in 2017, Aeropost (formerly Aerocasillas) has opened six new branches (Limón, Heredia centro, Santa Ana, Nicoya, Santa Cruz and Quepos). Hellen Mena, marketing executive at Aeropost, said that the number of packages they moved increased by 15% over the last three years.”
” Internet shopping in Costa Rica shows a growth trend despite economic instability and variations in the exchange rate, which has allowed us to expand our operation to more places for the convenience of our customers,” said Mena.
At Jetbox, the company started 2017 with the opening of a branch in San Ramón and has made internal improvements to its own software and developed new applications for iOs (Apple) and Android users.
In addition, the company says it is working on two projects of which they did not provide further details but claimed to be related to electronic commerce and the other with a special package distribution system that would strengthen their current service.
“The number of packages has averaged an increase of 12% or 15% year-on-year. As far as 2017 is concerned, we can see that there is a greater trend that can reach 18%,” said Óscar Vargas, president of Jetbox.
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