Ann Summers Customers Gain Greater Control Over Deliveries

As demand for more flexible and convenient delivery options grows, parcel lockers are becoming an increasingly important part of last-mile logistics. Retailers are looking beyond traditional home delivery to give customers greater control over how and where they receive their purchases.

Reflecting this shift, InPost has partnered with British retailer Ann Summers to give customers more control at checkout, offering the freedom to choose where and how they receive their orders. For those living in a flatshare or university accommodation, living with parents, buying a gift or simply preferring to collect their purchase themselves, InPost Locker delivery offers an alternative to the front door.

Ann Summers customers will be able to choose 48-hour delivery to an InPost Locker at
checkout, select the location that works best for them and collect at a time that suits them.
Customers will also be able to make returns through InPost’s extensive network of over
16,000 lockers.

The partnership brings together two brands known for challenging convention. Ann
Summers has spent more than 50 years disrupting the high street, pushing boundaries and
empowering its customers, while InPost is reshaping the delivery experience around how
people live and shop today.

For Ann Summers customers, locker delivery offers another option alongside traditional
home delivery, whether they are collecting around a commute, choosing a location close
to home or simply prefer to pick up their order themselves.

The launch comes as out-of-home delivery becomes an increasingly established part of
ecommerce. InPost research found nearly 60% of Brits experience delivery-related stress,
with consumers spending an average of 3.2 hours every month waiting at home for
deliveries.

The partnership extends that shift into a new retail category, giving Ann Summers
customers another way to receive their purchases while making the delivery experience
more adaptable to their lifestyle.

Jon Nicholson, Chief Commercial Officer, InPost UK, commented:

Ann Summers has spent decades disrupting the high street and empowering its customers, while InPost is
challenging the way delivery has traditionally worked. Bringing those two mindsets
together makes this a really exciting partnership.

Customers expect choice throughout the shopping journey, and delivery should be no
different. By adding InPost Locker delivery, Ann Summers is giving its customers greater
freedom to choose the location and collection time that works best for them.

For retailers, delivery is an increasingly important part of the overall customer experience.
Giving people more options at checkout creates a more flexible, modern shopping journey
– and that is exactly where InPost continues to push the category forward.”

Maria Hollins, CEO, Ann Summers, added

For more than 50 years, Ann Summers has
pushed boundaries and championed empowerment, confidence and choice for our
customers

Our partnership with InPost brings that same approach into another part of the shopping
journey, giving our customers even greater freedom over how and where they receive their
orders.

We want every interaction with Ann Summers to feel empowering and on our customers’
terms. InPost Locker delivery gives them another simple and flexible option, putting even
more choice into their hands.”

Kesko Bets on Cloud-Native, AI-Driven WMS

The race to modernise Europe’s grocery supply chains has entered a new phase, with Finnish retail group Kesko selecting Manhattan Active Warehouse™ from supply chain and omnichannel commerce solutions provider Manhattan Associates Inc.

The Nordic retailer is replacing its grocery trade legacy warehouse management system with the a cloud-native warehouse management solution, including agentic AI capabilities delivered through Manhattan Active Agents and Manhattan Agent Foundry™.

For Finland’s second largest grocery brand, and one of the biggest in Northern Europe, the investment reflects the growing strategic importance of operational agility, as digital and physical retail become increasingly interconnected and a broader shift taking place across retail logistics more generally.

The scale of Kesko’s grocery trade makes the project noteworthy in Finnish and European retail. In 2025, the division’s net sales amounted to EUR 6.5 billion, and its comparable operating profit was EUR 418 million. Together, K-food stores and Kespro form an extensive grocery trade business.

“Our aim is to create a warehouse and technology foundation that evolves without the disruption traditionally associated with enterprise software upgrades, while also leveraging the transformative power of agentic AI to gain operational efficiencies and unlock previously unseen opportunities,” commented Pekka Tala, Director Strategic Programs, Grocery Trade Logistics at Kesko.

The significance of Kesko’s decision extends beyond infrastructure, however, as retailers face increasingly fragmented consumer demands and rising expectations for rapid, reliable fulfilment.

“If you break an on-time-in-full promise a customer will simply find an alternative, which sets the stakes high. Initially covering five distribution centres, followed by a greenfield site (in 2029-30), plus a range of terminal hub operations, being able to interpret and act on operational signals in real time is key for us.” Pekka Tala

Kesko expects to deploy Manhattan’s Wave Coordinator, Labour, and Warehouse Associate Agents while exploring additional purpose-built agents to support additional inbound operations with Agent Foundry.

Sebastien Lefebure, Senior Vice President, EMEA at Manhattan continued: “Retailers are increasingly viewing warehouse projects as an opportunity for competitive differentiation. This project represents more than the simple replacement of a legacy WMS; it is an opportunity to drive competitive advantage.

“The continuous innovation delivered by Manhattan’s cloud-native platform, coupled with the functional power of AI embedded in the execution layer of supply chains is increasingly becoming the benchmark against which next-generation supply chain platforms will be measured, and Kesko is at the forefront of the application of this technology in the Nordic grocery space”

Subscribe

Get notified about New Episodes of our Podcast, New Magazine Issues and stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter.