It’s a partnership that should have happened a long time ago.
Carousell has just teamed up with local startup Park N Parcel, and this collaboration marks the first time that the classifieds marketplace is working with a logistics partner.
All this while, the postage or self-collection of traded items were all the onus of buyers and sellers, and Carousell merely acted as a platform for communication.
However, pain points arise when the items sold are bulky, and may not be suitable for delivery, and also when meet-ups may not be convenient due to conflicting schedules.
This is where Park N Parcel wants to come in to offer their expertise.
Founded by 3 Singaporeans, Park N Parcel wants to provide online shoppers an “innovative way to collect parcels in a hassle-free manner by parking their parcels with the neighbours”.
What this means is that buyers won’t need to worry about wonky delivery times, as the packages would be delivered to a neighbour’s house for safekeeping till collection at a convenient time.
The kind neighbours, also known as ‘Parkers’, would also be paid $1 per successfully delivered parcel. And it’s not just homeowners, commercial businesses can also sign their stores up as collection points.
In our interview with them, Erik, co-founder and COO, revealed that they were not just aiming to get more ‘Parkers’ on board, they were also discussing partnership plans with companies like Playe, an online retailer, and logistics companies such as Qourier, Gogovan, Roadbull and Aramex.
“We hope these potential collaborations can boost the traction of company and make our operation more efficient.”
In this new collaboration with Carousell, Park N Parcel isn’t just aiming to gain more traction and brand awareness among Singaporeans, but also tap into the highly-active target group who are constantly on the lookout for efficient and affordable delivery solutions.
A Campaign To Encourage The Kampong Spirit
The Carousell x Park N Parcel campaign is one that would be held both online and offline – with the former targeting members of Carousell’s Neighbourhood Groups.
This ties in closely to the aim to rekindle the ‘Kampung Spirit’ among Carousellers – something that Park N Parcel declared was one of their main aims in their interview with us.
Said Erik, “We hope that through our platform, we can help the community to connect, such as having millennials which in this case are the users of our service and the Parkers, majority of them being the older generation, to connect and simply to share a word or two.”
Thus, by encouraging Carousellers to trade among their neighbours and eventually foster a stronger community identity, Park N Parcel serves as the perfect add-on to these transactions.
With close to 5,000 members in the Serangoon Carousellers Neighbourhood Group itself, targeting mini communities like such are effective for getting as close to the targeted individuals as possible.
Carousellers who have listed items for sale in those areas, and members of the groups would also get push messages so that they are aware of the ongoing campaign. The groups’ cover photo and description would include details of the campaign to encourage more to try the service out.
Currently, the campaign is live on 3 Groups – Carousellers @ Tampines, Carousellers @ Pasir Ris and H&M Fashionistas.
The Neighbourhood Groups for Sengkang, Hougang, and Punggol would be the next in line.
The collaboration also sees Carousellers getting a 40% discount on the usual service fees for Park N Parcel for 4 weeks, and they’ll only need to pay a mere $1.50 to ensure that their package gets safely delivered to a neighbour.
The offline campaign would be happening during the Carouselland bazaar happening from 24-25 June.
The Park N Parcel team have a booth at the bazaar, and will distributing trial kits to attendees in a bid to drive even more signups for the service.
The Collaboration Would Only Last For 6 Weeks
But given that this is the first time Carousell is collaborating with a logistics partner, the campaign would only take place for 6 weeks to gauge initial responses and take-up.
Personally, though, I hope that more of such collaborations would happen to make Carousell an even more robust platform than it already is.