The Future of OOH: Key Insights from Parcel+Post 2025

Parcel+Post  Expo 2025 convenes the best and brightest of the parcel, postal, and out-of-home delivery ecosystem: operators, technologists, strategists, and disruptors alike. The event sets the stage for more than just innovation: it invites a deeper discussion around how OOH will evolve in a world shaped by shifting consumer expectations, sustainability imperatives, and digital intensive logistics.

As moderator of two dynamic panels, OOH Delivery Industry Advocate, Francesco Tribuni , helped steer discussions that explored the future of OOH and First & Last Mile solutions. Here are some of his key insights.

The next generation of parcel lockers won’t stay put for long.

While most of the industry is still talking about Parcel Lockers, others are already looking one step ahead, toward Autonomous Delivery Robots. At this pace, it feels like parcel lockers will soon have wheels of their own!

From Omniva in Estonia and Starship Technologies (founded by Skype’s co-founders) to .lumen in Romania, Smarcel in Germany, and major players like PostNL and DPD UK, the list of early movers keeps growing. It’s only a matter of time before venture capital and large-scale investors start pouring into this space, and when they do, the last mile might finally start moving on its own.

In the locker business, one size fits none. Adaptation wins.

Every market tells its own story, and parcel lockers are no exception. What works in one region often fails in another. POS-enabled lockers continue to grow across Central and Eastern Europe, while indoor-only networks define operations in the Middle East. In the Nordics, where challenging temperatures test hardware and logistics alike, a cooperative model between locker suppliers and parcel companies feels essential to ensure network reliability. And, dual-grid lockers like Bloq.it NEXT, designed to run on plug or battery power without sacrificing performance, unlock true deployment flexibility, enabling full-scale expansion with the technological depth that end users now expect from a maturing locker industry.

The industry is now moving beyond hardware or software alone, toward end-to-end smart locker ecosystems, where reliable hardware, technology, deployment, and maintenance operate as one. This shift minimizes fragmentation, speeds up rollout, and strengthens long-term reliability. Yet one factor remains consistently undervalued: field services. The cost and complexity of installation, on-site maintenance, and cross-market support, as networks scale, become the real test of network sustainability.

This is where Bloq.it model stands out, not by claiming to reinvent the industry, but by embodying this shift. As a single provider focused solely on smart locker infrastructure, Bloq.it combines hardware, software, and field services under one roof, fully optimized to meet heterogenous multi-market needs. Bloq.it sees every part of a smart locker network as essential, not secondary. It’s how we’re driving the industry’s next phase: one defined by seamless integration, deep specialization, and real end-to-end accountability.

Returns made easy. Not an option.

We’re also reaching a new milestone in the evolution of Out-of-Home (OOH) returns. Solutions like drop, showcased in Amsterdam, represent the next step in how both outbound and return shipments can be managed more efficiently, redefining the first-mile experience. Shoppers can return their items in seconds and funnel every item into a single bag, so couriers collect in one swift motion, turning dozens of stops into one. It's a win-win on easy returns, and that's not optional anymore.

Rather than replacing existing locker infrastructure, drop is designed to enhance it. It gives logistics providers and retailers an additional way to optimize their returns network, alongside their current PUDO or locker systems, enabling them to choose the solutions that best fit specific locations or demand. This reflects a broader industry shift: sustainable growth in the OOH ecosystem will depend on a portfolio of complementary solutions, not a single one.

These solutions are streamlining routes, reducing repetitive tasks, and helping deliveries happen faster and more sustainably, while bringing the OOH consolidation model into the first mile to cut the Cost Per Parcel (CPP) down to just a few cents per unit. As locker networks grow and integrate more deeply into last-mile operations, one thing is clear: those who build and manage these infrastructures will play a central role in shaping the future of the First and Last Mile.

OOH parcel networks are the new competitive edge.

Really driving the point home, not having a strong locker network is quickly becoming a major challenge for the sustainability of the parcel and postal business. The players who invested early are now reaping the benefits, expanding capacity and onboarding new parcel volumes without a proportional rise in costs. For those still catching up, that imbalance will be hard to ignore. As efficiency gaps widen, the market is likely to enter a new wave of mergers and acquisitions, as companies look to scale and consolidate their networks to stay competitive.

The future isn’t coming to find you; you have to build it.

Reflecting on this past week, it’s undoubtedly worth attending and exhibiting at Parcel+Post Expo. Even if not every year, you manage to start a new business with the customer you’ve always been targeting, you can still build great conversations with prospects that sooner or later will lead to meaningful opportunities. More importantly, you can feel the pulse of innovation; it shines through every competitor, startup, and discussion with customers. The future isn’t coming to find you; you have to build it yourself.