Hermes can now deliver to any 3-metre square in the UK using What3Words

Delivery company Hermes is partnering with innovative addressing company What3Words to allow customers to have their orders delivered to an exact 3-metre square, as it looks to offer more accurate deliveries.

Hermes, which delivers more than 400 million parcels each year on behalf of some of the UK's largest online retailers including H&M, Next, Asos, JD Williams and Debenhams, has added the What3Words to give customers a simple way to talk about, and share location.

The What3Words system divides the world into 57 trillion 3 metre squares, giving each square a new, simplified address made up of three dictionary words.

This system offers a simple, innovative and robust way for couriers to deliver parcels right to a customer’s doorstep or desired delivery point, as street addresses across the UK can be inaccurate, and pins can be dropped in the centre of the building, leaving couriers struggling to find the correct door or access point, and postcodes often cover a large area.

Hermes states that What3Words addresses are even more accurate than postal addresses and allow customers to specify their precise delivery location, whether a doorstep or a safe place in their garden.

As online shopping continues to grow, What3Words has seen a 833 percent increase in adoption of its addressing technology on the checkout pages of retailers around the UK, who are looking to provide customers with a way to ensure their delivery makes it to the correct place or a safe contact-free location.

It is easy for customers to use What3Words, they just add their 3-metre square address to their profile in the Hermes app.

Chris Ashworth, chief information officer at Hermes UK, said in a statement: “We’re really excited to team up with What3Words and become the first delivery company in the UK to provide What3Words addresses for any parcel.

"This marks the latest development in our innovation portfolio that we had been planning for some time, however, given the pandemic, when we have experienced five years’ growth in five months due to online shopping behaviours changing, we have expedited the use of this tech to further enhance our contact-free deliveries option, at a time when both our clients and their customers need efficient, safe deliveries.”

Clare Jones, chief commercial officer at What3Words, added: “Hermes is leading the way in the UK, delivering on the promise of fast, efficient deliveries for its customers. Traditional street addresses aren’t accurate enough to deliver your online orders smoothly every time. This year has shown the importance of e-commerce, and the role it plays in the UK - with record numbers predicted this Christmas period. This means more deliveries, more new delivery drivers on the road and more customers with increasingly high expectations for fast and seamless deliveries.”

Image: What3Words website