Amazon is now offering free standard delivery to more than 13,000 pick up locations through the UK, including more than 300 Amazon Lockers. Amazon’s pick up locations can be found in newsagents, libraries, business parks, railway stations, petrol stations and Post Offices.

The free delivery is only eligible for over £10 of books, or £20 or more of items from any Amazon store. Customers are able to select a pickup location when they reach the checkout, and will receive instructions once the parcel reaches its collection location.

John Tagawa, Amazon UK’s Vice President of Operations, said: “We are always trying to lower costs for our customers. For many people, collecting from an Amazon Pickup Location is the delivery option of choice. Our customers were telling us that free delivery to a pickup location would be a great value service and we agree.”

Apex Insight has just published a new market report analysing the market for parcel shops and locker networks across Europe. The report, European Parcel Shop and Locker Networks Market Insight Report 2015, shows that Germany has the largest number of locations. The UK and France also have extensive networks.

Many European parcel carriers, especially those with a focus on B2C deliveries, are building up their own networks. The most extensive network is that of Otto, which owns the Hermes and Mondial Relay networks, followed by DPD, DHL and UPS. There are also independent players, of which the largest – since the acquisition of Kiala by UPS – is InPost.