Cosine were delighted to be announced as the Silver Winner in Field Data Award Category for their DPD work at the 2024/25 FMBE awards . Cosine successfully addressed DPD's challenge by implementing a dynamic deployment model in the management of Cosine's resource to meet the needs of a network expanding 300%,  with only a 25% increase in team size.

Find out how:

The challenge

DPD is a leading European parcel delivery company, offering innovative, high-quality, and time-sensitive solutions. DPD’S  PUDO division (Pick Up Drop Off), its nationwide parcel shop and locker network, supports the Out of Home (OOH) strategy, allowing customers to collect and return parcels conveniently.

Cosine has partnered with DPD’s PUDO division since 2015, handling shop recruitment, onboarding, and training. Once the network was established, our focus shifted to account management, ensuring service compliance and efficient parcel movement.

Our field-based Business Development Executives (BDEs) managed 22,000 visits annually, maintaining a 99% success rate in task resolution. In 2019, we introduced a telephone-based role to enhance efficiency.

In 2022/23, DPD tripled its shop network to meet rising parcel volumes and sustainability goals. Cosine was tasked with devising the most effective and efficient strategy to deliver on this plan, ensuring that network standards were maintained while keeping cost increases to a minimum.

The solution

Initially, account management followed a static segmentation model, with stores receiving a set number of visits per year based on parcel volume. Each visit ensured DPD’s processes were followed.

Then Cosine’s data science team developed Cosine Connect, a flexible analytical approach that integrates physical and digital solutions to optimise interventions and improve KPI performance. We can deliver this solution in any store, across any channel, at any time.  To meet the needs of a growing DPD network and improve compliance with parcel scanning for customers, Cosine introduced a new segmentation strategy in 2022 applying this model. Using DPD data, alongside Cosine’s field data capture, we assessed compliance and a risk level for each store, predicting a store’s likely compliance level and  whether stores required in-person visits or could be serviced by a phone team for account management.

A trial in 2023 confirmed that telephone-based account management was as effective as field visits. Consequently, the model was refined to incorporate additional data points and as a result from 2024 with the network’s growth tripling, a team of four telephone-based BDEs would handle standard account management, ensuring regular store touchpoints.

Compliance is continuously monitored to ensure that telephone contact is as effective as physical visits, with no adverse impact on key KPIs. Additionally, to maintain high compliance and mitigate potential risks associated with declining shop performance, Cosine introduced alert-based visits for the field team to support high-risk stores, using six key data points to identify compliance risks. Data-driven insights, integrated into Salesforce, enable targeted in-store training and efficient issue resolution. Stores with persistent issues could be removed from the network, ensuring overall performance and DPD brand reputation remains high.

The results

Cosine successfully addressed the client’s challenge by implementing new methodologies in the management of field and phone teams for account management. Despite the network growing by 300%, Cosine has managed to deliver services with only a 25% increase in team size (three additional telephone heads) and a cost increase of 36%.

By using data to create a dynamic deployment model for DPD, we have ensured the delivery of the right method, communication, and cost. This approach has continued to meet all KPIs, increasing our return on investment while expanding the network signDEI Champions

Key achievements include:

• Utilising telephone BDEs as the first point of contact for all tasks has reduced the need for a field BDE to physically visit shops in 32% of cases, resulting in a significant savings of in field budget, which can now be reallocated to other areas.
• DPD tracks the percentage of parcels that fail to be delivered to pick-up locations. By using the telephone team to react in real-time to these failed deliveries, this metric has significantly improved
• We have increased scan-out compliance metric, while store groups not managed by the Cosine team have not.
• A potential concern was that reduced physical coverage might be perceived as reduced investment by the pick-up and drop-off locations. However, despite these changes, DPD customer service remains rated as the best in the industry.

Reduced Carbon 

As a result of these changes in coverage, Cosine also achieved a reduction of 10,500 miles in travel, leading to further cost efficiencies and a reduction of 2,217,600 grams in CO2 emissions, aligning with both Cosine’s and DPD’s green agendas.

What DPD thinks:

“We have to make sure that our network of shops are fully trained […] and fully confident on how they deliver that service to our customers’ customers and Cosine play a pivotal role in delivering that service for us.”

“By utilising a data led deployment model, we’ve been able to focus our team on key performance areas that are important to our client and the compliance of the network.”

Tim Davies, Head of Out Of Home and Indoor Accounts at DPD UK