Newsletter 53

A TV audience put at over 3 million were exposed to shopbox, an innovative refrigerated home shopping drop-box system, when its creators, the Leeds-based Archbold transport group, featured in BBC2’s Dragons’ Den show on 21 July.

The publicity boost appears to have been the main gain for the company, Shopbox Systems Ltd, since none of the dragons decided to invest. However, one of them, Peter Jones, appeared ready to commit £1 million (four times the amount requested) until he discovered that a rival offer of £200,000 from external investors was pending, and that the company was not prepared to disclose any details about this.

Stuart Archbold, the main spokesman and head of the parent group, said around £1 million had already been invested in the project. A key attraction was that the system was protected by various patents, and he vigorously defended their scope and robustness during a sometimes heated session with the dragons.

Shopbox is already available to customers, but is due for a full launch this September. Meanwhile, the company has moved quickly to dispel concerns raised during the TV programme that children could get trapped inside the cabinet. It says it has changed the locking system to ensure this cannot happen.

 

The system is supplied on lease terms at £14.99 a month (minimum 18 months) plus £99 for fitting. Although these figures might seem high relative to other unattended delivery solutions, the system does include temperature control, which has not been available previously. Significantly, commentators have observed that by choosing cheap delivery options from online grocers who offer differential pricing for their time slots, regular users could easily cover the cost within a year or so, and thereafter make savings.

The company claims that all the major supermarket chains are willing to deliver into the boxes, and its web site suggests that Royal Mail will also use them.

Opinions vary about the aesthetics of the box, which is slightly reminiscent of a wheelie bin – a resemblance acknowledged by the company itself.