UNITED KINGDOM - Logistics company UPS has launched a new service in the U.K. that allows customers to pick up their packages from local convenience stores, petrol stations and newsagents rather than waiting for a home delivery.

InternetRetailing.net reports that the service currently operates across more than 600 stores, with 1,500 outlets set to join the network by June. Within the next two to three years it aims to have a network of 4,000 stores.

The service also allows retailers to offer click-and-collect services "through their own stores, using the UPS technology rather than investing in their own, while cross-border services enable traders to send parcels to the European countries where UPS already operates a collection network of 6,500 stores through its Kiala subsidiary," writes the news source. (UPS acquired Kiala, a Belgium-based firm that provides delivery options to online shoppers, in 2012.)

Joe Mozzali, vice president of strategy at UPS Europe, said in a press statement: "The B2C sector is and will continue to be a powerful growth area. We are committed to offering our customers the solutions they want, whether they are retailers trading over the Internet or busy consumers looking for convenient delivery options. UPS Access Point brings UPS?? renowned quality and reliability to a new, cross-border consumer-delivery concept."

According to the news source, the move by UPS to offer a delivery option in a convenience store "makes for more competition in this sector," which so far has been pioneered by a similar company in the U.K. called CollectPlus that has built a network of more than 5,000 local corner shops.