Why the next retail growth lever could be waiting in a Parcel Locker

The next phase of delivery will be defined not simply by speed, but by control. (Source: Australia Post)

Australia Post's Locker Land in Melbourne 2026. (Source: Australia Post)

By Australia Post August 26, 2026

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For years, e-commerce has treated delivery as the final, largely functional step in a transaction: A parcel travels from warehouse to doorstep, ideally quickly and cheaply.

But as online shopping becomes more embedded in everyday life, that model is starting to look less like the end point and more like one option among many.

The next phase of delivery will be defined not simply by speed, but by control. For retailers, out-of-home delivery – including Parcel Lockers, Post Offices and other collection points – presents an opportunity to turn fulfilment from a cost of doing business into a stronger customer-experience, loyalty engine and growth lever.

Delivery on the customer’s terms

Jacek Powalka, an out-of-home delivery specialist and OOH solutions director at Modern Expo, has helped deploy parcel-locker networks across 15 countries. His central message for Australian retailers is that the opportunity is bigger than the physical locker itself.

“The locker itself is not the transformation – the network is,” Powalka told Inside Retail. “There must be a joint, shared, common benefit and value for all stakeholders: for the merchants, for the hosts and for the end user. If this is reached, then it accelerates.”

That matters because the doorstep is not always the most convenient destination. Customers may be at work, away for the weekend, living in an apartment where parcels cannot be safely left or simply unwilling to organise their day around a delivery window. As Powalka put it, lockers shift delivery from “I’m waiting for the parcel” to “the parcel waits for me”.

For retailers, that change in customer control can have commercial implications. Delivery choice is now inseparable from the shopping experience, particularly in high-consideration categories such as fashion, beauty, footwear, electronics and homewares, where a smooth return process can influence a customer’s willingness to buy in the first place.

“Lockers grow recency and frequency of purchases for e-commerce,” Powalka said. “If the frictionless experience is end-to-end – not only clicking, but also picking up and returns — customers tend to buy more because it is a pleasurable experience.”

Make choice visible at checkout

Fashion retailers are already beginning to build that choice into checkout. In 2024, The Iconic integrated Australia Post Parcel Lockers and Post Offices into its checkout experience, allowing customers to choose from nearly 800 Parcel Lockers and more than 4000 participating Post Offices. The retailer positioned the move as a way to give customers more flexibility, particularly those with busy schedules or homes where unattended parcels are not practical. More than 90 per cent of metropolitan households were within 5km of a Parcel Locker at the time of the announcement.

Now, Cotton On has taken a similarly direct approach to making out-of-home delivery visible at the moment of purchase. Its recent integration of the Australia Post Parcel Locker widget allows shoppers to select a locker as their preferred delivery location at checkout.

But retailers need to make delivery choices easy to find, easy to understand and relevant to the customer’s moment of need. “Delivery options are becoming an integrated part of the shopping experience,” Powalka said. “Whether it is home delivery, pick-up and drop-off points, lockers or same-day delivery, all of those are needed. Depending on the circumstances, our delivery expectations change.”

In categories such as fashion and footwear, the ability to try, return and exchange without a trip to a Post Office can reduce a major friction point in online shopping. Powalka believes returns may be the behaviour that establishes locker habits first, noting research from overseas markets where adoption for locker returns was 3.4 times higher than for collection. “Number one is convenience,” he said. “With lockers, you can make e-commerce more accessible and better adopted through all ages.”

From delivery option to growth lever

The benefits also extend beyond digital conversion. For shopping centres, precincts and store networks, lockers can create a reason for customers to visit a location, while creating opportunities for additional spend. Powalka cited mature overseas markets where collection-point visits have translated into commercial activity for hosts, arguing that the locker should be viewed as part of a broader local retail ecosystem, not merely an unattended delivery box.

There is also a strategic case for retailers to move early. In markets where out-of-home delivery becomes routine, it can become a meaningful differentiator between competing retailers. “Those who adopt it first will have an early adopters’ advantage,” Powalka stated. “Be the first to adopt lockers, and you will see the magic of how your sales and customer experience will be influenced.”

Australia’s delivery future will not be entirely door-to-door, nor should it be. The opportunity for retailers lies in giving customers a meaningful choice – and in recognising that the handover of a parcel is no longer the end of the customer journey. It is part of the product.