Convenience retailers face the same issues as the wider retail sector in the run-up to Christmas. As ecommerce sends more parcel traffic through their shops they are facing a different scale, according to The Golden Guide 2026.
PayPoint processed 136 million Collect+ parcel transactions from April 2025 to March 2026, up 1.5 per cent. The network ended the period at 14,076 parcel sites, with more than 8500 offering Royal Mail services. Its Amazon network is being expanded from 7000 to 10,000 locations. PayPoint’s wider UK retail network stood at 30,872 sites and 70 per cent were independent retailer partners.
Scale is only part of the proposition. PayPoint describes Collect+ as the UK’s largest parcel pick-up and drop-off network, and its carrier-agnostic model lets one store handle services from multiple carriers. Customers can collect, send and return parcels through the same local network. At participating Royal Mail Shop locations they can also buy postage over the counter, while labels can be printed in store.
That staffed model gives customers options beyond a basic locker journey when a label needs printing, ID needs checking or something needs sorting with a person. Those shops that are now involved in ecommerce parcel transactions serve customers collecting online orders, sending marketplace sales and dropping off returns.
Opening hours are a large part of the attraction. PayPoint says 27 per cent of Collect+ parcels were picked up or dropped off outside conventional office hours during 2025. Nearly 40 million parcel transactions took place during those periods, while 76 per cent of customers that used its label-printing service chose to print in store.
The staffed model also gives customers more control over the parcel itself. Orders can be routed to a local store rather than left unattended at home, reducing exposure to doorstep theft and missed deliveries. PayPoint retailer guidance requires parcels to be stored securely and released against collection codes, with ID checks where a carrier requires them.
Customers sending or returning a parcel receive tracking information on their receipt, while carrier notifications keep them updated as the parcel moves through the network.
Small gains. Repeated at scale
PayPoint has also tried to take the parcel transaction away from the fixed counter where it can. Its StoreScan app lets staff scan collections, sends and returns on a phone or tablet, so a colleague can keep parcel traffic moving when the main terminal is busy. For a small shop, those seconds matter once parcel volume starts stacking up.
Collect+ operates agnostically and has partnered with most of the UK’s Carrier operators. The peak planning period is essential, and we provide realtime network capacity and utilisation reporting to allow our partners to make informed decisions. Utilising ‘divert’ to store service at Peak is particularly popular and helps avoid any delivery failures to door.
Collect+ technology is fully tracked from a scan into store which triggers the customer messaging then a scan out of store when parcel is collected. The tracking of every part of the journey and physically seeing the scan happen reassures the consumer.
Shoppers using Collect+ or another parcel service visit convenience stores slightly more often than the average convenience shopper. Lumina Convenience Intelligence reporting supplied by PayPoint shows at 2.5 visits versus 2.3, and spend a little more on shop items when they do, with an average basket of £8.81 compared with £8.43.
The uplift on an individual visit is modest, but across a busy parcel network it gives independent retailers another reason to care about how well the service is run.
Returns service increases after the Christmas window and returns can significantly reshape December sales performance as unwanted gifts and purchases move back through the network in January.
“If you’re running an independent store efficiency is vital and additional footfall very welcome,” says Samantha Holden from PayPoint.
“If the services are genuinely useful to customers and straightforward for the retailer to handle, you’re giving people another reason to use that store.”
This is an excerpt from the recently published Golden Guide 2026. Download the full version for a look at how shoppers economise and treat themselves at the same time and why this changes the maths on every peak sale.
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