Bolloré’s locker system beats brick-and-mortar Xbox One X deliveries

Bluedistrib, a subsidiary of Bolloré Logistics that operates a network of lockers across France, delivered the first Xbox One X video game system order placed via e-tailer Cdiscount’s website at midnight, allowing hardcore gamers to plug their consoles in eight hours before stores opened up in the country.

As e-commerce garners a growing share of the retail market, solutions such as Bluedistrib represent one fix to the final-mile conundrum – how do retailers get their products into customers hands efficiently and securely?

At Bluedistrib, the game consoles were routed from the retailer to the company’s locker networks, which then directed them to its various locations. At one minute past midnight on November 7, customers received a SMS with a security code that allowed them to pick up their consoles, and be the first to start playing, well before stores opened.

“This is a highly secure logistics operation that combines physical and high-tech flows in order to guarantee to our partners, Cdiscount and Microsoft, who place their trust in us, that there will be no distribution before the agreed time,” said Sandrine Ressayre, a Bluedistrib director.

For many customers, home deliveries are not feasible due to timing and security issues. Lockers have emerged as a widely used alternative, and this week’s Xbox delivery demonstrated that lockers can be used for embargoed deliveries as well.