G&A’s Corner Shop on Garioch Road has been named the UK’s ‘Store of the Quarter’ by CollectPlus in recognition of its excellent customer service

28 AUGUST 15: G&A’s Corner Shop on Garioch Road, Inverurie, has today been named the UK’s best CollectPlus store in the brand’s quarterly awards programme, which recognises excellent customer satisfaction and service levels over the period April to June 2015.

CollectPlus is the UK’s largest independent store-based delivery and returns service and offers a convenient way for people to collect online purchases or return unwanted items to more than 300 high street and online retailers, including John Lewis, Very and ASOS.

G&A’s Corner Shop on Garioch Road, previously a regional winner in the last quarterly awards, was one of the very first stores to join the CollectPlus network in March 2009. Shoppers can use the CollectPlus service at the store to have online shopping purchases delivered for collection at a location that is convenient to them, meaning they do not have to wait in for deliveries. They can also return unwanted items or send parcels from G&A’s Corner Shop, and send parcels to any UK address.

Thanks to the personal touch and fantastic customer service provided by the husband-and-wife team of Graham and Amanda Brimner, G&A’s Corner Shop has flourished in Inverurie, despite competition from large supermarkets in the local area.

Graham Brimner, co-owner of G&A’s Corner Shop, said:

“We have worked really hard over the past eleven years to make a success of the store and provide the sort of personal touch to customers that you only really get from a family business. We joined the CollectPlus network to provide this much needed service to the local community so it’s really heartening to receive such great feedback directly from our customers. The local community has been great to us, and despite the competition provided by nearby supermarkets, such as Tesco and Aldi, they continue to come in and shop here. We couldn’t be more delighted to win this award from CollectPlus.”

The CollectPlus ‘Store of the Quarter’ awards programme recognises the best stores in the CollectPlus network of 5,800 newsagents, convenience stores, petrol stations and supermarkets. With 12 regional winners selected, G&A’s Corner Shop was judged to be the top store in the company’s nationwide network, achieving the best overall performance for customer satisfaction, scoring an impressive 4.97 out of 5 stars between April and June 2015.

Graham and Amanda were presented with their award by Neil Ashworth, CEO at CollectPlus, who said: “G&A’s Corner Shop is a truly deserving national winner, it’s great to visit this shop which is at the heart of its local community, and see the outstanding level of service owners Graham and Amanda provide to CollectPlus customers first hand.

Having been members of our network since the very first weeks of our history, Graham and Amanda understand the importance of offering customers the services they want, to keep them coming back through the door.

CollectPlus is all about convenience, and it is the great service that stores like this provide which makes it possible for people across the UK to pick up and return their online shopping or send parcels at a time and place that suits them. G&A’s Corner Shop sets an outstanding example among our nationwide network of 5,800 stores.”

Recent research has demonstrated that stores benefit from offering the CollectPlus service, as two-thirds (67%) of customers dropping off or collecting a parcel, across the network, are visiting that particular store for the first time. The research also showed that stores in the network take an average of £3,095 a year in additional revenue, on top of the chance to be crowned winners in the quarterly and annual store awards scheme.

Founded in 2009, CollectPlus is a joint venture between PayPoint, the leading retail payment network, and Yodel, the UK’s leading independent parcel carrier.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editor

For further information, please contact the CollectPlus team at the Red Consultancy:

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 0207 025 6500

CollectPlus scores 9.0/10 on TrustPilot, with 82.6% of customers giving CollectPlus 5/5 stars (as of 11.08.15).

‘Store of the Quarter’ Terms and Conditions can be viewed by visiting http://www.paypoint.co.uk/retailers/terms-conditions.

ABOUT COLLECTPLUS

CollectPlus is the UK’s largest independent store-based parcel delivery and returns service. It offers a simple and convenient way for people to collect online purchases from or return unwanted items to more than 260 high street and online retailers, including Amazon, John Lewis and ASOS – all at their local convenience store.

It is also possible to send parcels to any UK address from a CollectPlus store, making it a convenient option for those who sell products via online marketplaces such as eBay, as well as acting as a cheaper and convenient alternative parcel service for sending packages to friends and family.

Founded in 2009, CollectPlus was the first business to offer third party click and collect in the UK and now has a network of 5,800 conveniently located parcel stores across the UK, nearly all of which are open early ‘til late seven days a week. 90% of the UK’s urban population live within a mile of a CollectPlus point and 89% within five miles in rural areas. 

CollectPlus now handles in excess of 300,000 parcels a week and in July 2015 handled its 50 millionth parcel. CollectPlus is a joint venture between PayPoint, the leading retail payment network, and leading independent parcel carrier, Yodel.

ABOUT PAYPOINT

PayPoint is an international leader in payment technologies, its solutions transforming payments for everyone from consumer and financial services companies to retailers, utilities, media, e-commerce, gaming and government clients.

PayPoint delivers payments and services through its unique combination of local shops, mobile and online distribution channels, delivered both through its owned businesses and by integrating the best services from more specialised suppliers. It handles almost £14 billion from over 812 million transactions annually for more than 5,500 clients and merchants.

With the backing of 24/7 operations centres with dual site processing, PayPoint is widely recognised for its leadership in payment systems, smart technology and service.

Retail networks

The PayPoint retail network across the UK numbers over 27,800 local shops (including Co-op, Spar, McColls, Costcutter, Sainsbury’s Local, Tesco Express, One Stop, Asda, Londis and thousands of independents), where it processes energy meter pre-payments, bill payments, benefit payments, mobile phone top-ups, transport tickets, BBC TV licences, cash withdrawals and a range of other transactions. In Romania, the retail network numbers over 9,200 terminals in local shops, helping people to make cash bill payments, money transfers, road tax payments and mobile phone top-ups. In the Republic of Ireland, over 500 terminals in shops and credit unions process mobile top-ups and bill payments.

Collect+, a joint venture with Yodel, provides a parcel drop-off and pick-up service at more than 5,800 PayPoint retailers. PayPoint’s ATM network numbers more than 4,000 ‘LINK’ branded machines across the UK, and 9,800 PayPoint terminals enable retailers to accept credit and debit cards.

Mobile and Online

PayPoint Mobile and Online (formerly trading as PayPoint.net, PayByPhone and Adaptis) handles over 145 million payments for parking, payments and consumer services.   In major cities in the UK, Canada, USA, France, Switzerland and Australia, its parking solutions make it easy for people to pay for parking by mobile, as well as providing electronic parking permits, automatic number plate recognition systems for car parks and penalty charge notices.

PayPoint’s core online payments platform is linked to 16 major acquiring banks in the UK, Europe and North America, delivering secure credit and debit card payments for almost 4,600 online merchants. Its suite of products ranges from transaction gateway to a bureau service, in addition to value-added services such as FraudGuard, an advanced service that mitigates the risk of fraud in card not present transactions, Cardlock, an innovative solution for PCI compliance, PayCash through the PayPoint network and Cashier, one of the most advanced hosted digital payment solutions.

ABOUT YODEL

UK independent parcel carrier Yodel handles over 155 million parcels every year and has a relationship with 85 per cent of the UK's top retailers. The company is headquartered in Hatfield and has over 60 locations across the UK, including three central sorts and over 50 service centres. Yodel offers a range of services to meet the needs of its clients and their customers:

• Yodel Home and Yodel Business - two van-based networks with service centre based drivers

• Yodel Neighbourhood - a neighbourhood courier service offering extended delivery hours

• Yodel World - international service

• YodelDirect – Yodel’s door-to-door consumer parcel service, ideal for online marketplace sellers and SMEs. It is the current sponsor of the Tour of Britain YodelDirect sprints jersey.

In addition:

• CollectPlus - Yodel's joint venture with PayPoint, which allows consumers to collect, return and send parcels from their local convenience store, newsagent or petrol station.  The service currently has over 260 retail clients and is available in over 5,500 locations across the UK

• Arrow XL - Through its sister company Yodel also offers a two man service for white goods and large items up to 120kg.