They have more aircrafts than KLM. They speak more languages than the United Nations. They can be found in more countries than McDonalds. And from the middle of March they also have a DHL store in the Van Baerlestraat, Amsterdam. This is remarkable in a market where post offices and bank branches are closing and more A brands (through bankruptcy) are disappearing from the street scene. How is DHL doing it?

Demand from Consumers
People know DHL through the business market, but because of the influence of e-commerce and the globalization of the economy the consumer is becoming more important to them. Express Easy and dhlforyou.nl have, as a consumer service, grown tremendously in recent years and are now the biggest players in the market. Therefore, they decided to open their own store. A store where the consumer can collect and send parcels, where he or she receives personal service and sets a foot into the world of DHL.

Optimal brand experience
Retail is becoming more important to DHL Therefore they have begun to work with Tchai; specialists in store design and consumer behaviour. Tchai created the concept and design for the DHL store. To give the optimal brand experience the service counter has not been given a central place in the store. On entering, the first thing noticed, after the DHL delivery bicycle in the window, is a huge screen showing videos of what is possible at DHL.

Charities, client solutions, services and all that is available. This is emphasized by display cases where Manchester United, Cirque du Soleil, Formula 1, Tom Coronel and other partnerships of the moment are shown. In the centre of the store are show cases with supplementary information, eg. a 3D map of Amsterdam – and from front door to the service counter there is a yellow track on the floor that ends at a full wall picture of the inside of a DHL transport plane. Here, the client ‘experiences’ the way that their parcel travels to the plane. This feeling is strengthened by their parcel moving via a conveyor belt to the weighing scales and then disappearing into ‘space.’

Photography by Ewout Huibers