Named-recipient delivery with DHL: make delivery personal

"Your parcel has been left with a neighbor" is a message most people are happy to get, but for some valuable purchases it can trigger an uneasy feeling. The prospect that a private or high-value order ends up with the neighbors is one of the reasons shoppers abandon a purchase, and why named-recipient delivery matters so much for online stores. If you want to rule that out, give your customers a personal handover. DHL offers several services to make delivery as personal as possible, and below we show which ones and why they matter for your business.

Named-recipient delivery: the services and benefits at a glance

DHL's named-recipient delivery services include:

• Personal handover

• Ident-Check

• Visual age check

With these options it's easy to meet legal requirements, maintain discretion, deliver gifts in person, or provide extra security for high-value goods. Anyone who wants to benefit from growing e-commerce sales has to know and meet customer needs to minimize cart abandonment, since a notable share of shipping-related abandonments happen simply because the preferred delivery options aren't offered.

Meet legal requirements

If you sell products subject to an age restriction, you've probably already dealt with identity verification. DHL offers an age check through the Ident-Check or a visual age check. For the following products, retailers have to observe the legal requirements for their field, among others:

• Alcohol and spirits

• Tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and accessories

• Age-rated media (films rated 16+ or 18+)

• Age-rated video games for PC and consoles (16+ or 18+)

Offer discretion and security

There are also very different products where many retailers may not yet have considered how important named-recipient delivery is. A guaranteed personal handover can decide whether a purchase goes through or is abandoned at checkout. Named-recipient delivery can make sense for:

• Cosmetics, toiletries, and hygiene products

• Gifts

• Adult products

• Alcohol and spirits

• Tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and accessories

• Luxury goods

• Important documents

Bring the advantages of physical retail online

Named-recipient delivery also plays an important role in winning and keeping customers. Many shoppers have permanently shifted more of their buying to online, and this is especially true for buyers of food and drink. With named-recipient delivery services you offer more of the advantages these customers already know and value from physical retail.

More about named-recipient delivery services

In short, named-recipient delivery options aren't just important building blocks for age-verification compliance, they're also a clear competitive advantage for every online retailer. If you want to make the most of your revenue potential, it's worth taking a closer look at DHL's named-recipient delivery services. Alongside these, DHL offers many other add-on services so you can tailor your shipping portfolio to your customers' individual preferences, including:

• Single pickup

• Parcel-outlet routing

• GoGreen

• No neighbor delivery

• Preferred delivery day

• Cash on delivery

• Parcel stop

• Bulky goods

• Transport insurance

Note: the cash-on-delivery and Ident-Check services currently can't be used directly via Sendcloud.

Named-recipient delivery and more via Sendcloud

Want to find out more about how Sendcloud works with DHL, or start shipping with DHL? Visit our DHL carrier page.