SINGAPORE — Did some shopping online but have no one at home to receive the items?

This could soon cease to be a worry after e-commerce site Lazada, convenience store chain 7-Eleven and logistics provider Ninja Van announced a collaboration on Thursday (Oct 18) to make online shopping easier.

Under the partnership — which will form the largest network of e-commerce parcel collection points in the Republic — shoppers can designate specific 7-Eleven stores as a collection point for their parcels via Ninja Van’s delivery service.

This new service will be available to all Lazada customers from Thursday at 6pm. All they need to do is to select their preferred collection point upon check-out.

Delivery will be free, as opposed to paying S$1.49 for normal and S$2.99 for express drop-off at their homes.

For a start, this new collection service will be available at 159 convenience stores, with a progressive rollout to close to 350 participating stores by the end of this year, said 7-Eleven, Lazada and Ninja Van in a joint media release. There are more than 380 7-Eleven stores islandwide.

To qualify for the service, the dimensions of eligible parcels must be under 80 centimetres — width, height and length combined. There is also a cap of five kilogrammes for weight.

With the number of single and dual resident households in Singapore rising, and fewer people having a helper or family member home to receive a parcel, 7-Eleven Singapore’s head of marketing Crispian Leong said the service will be “an added convenience to consumers’ daily lives and online shopping habits”.

“Most (people) are working during the day, and many may not find it convenient to receive parcels at their office,” he added.

At the same time, many condominiums also have tight security, while Housing and Development Board and private apartments often may not have a place to safely stow items, said the joint statement.

“We do encounter a substantial number of failed deliveries, which is disruptive for not only our customers, but (also for) sellers and delivery companies,” said Mr Ray Chou, Ninja Van Singapore’s country head.

He added: “With this wide network for self-service collection points, customers now have the hassle-free option of collecting their parcels at their convenience.”