How Bloq.it is powering GLS Out-Of-Home Expansion in Europe

GLS, one of Europe’s largest parcel networks with over 100,000 Out-of-Home (OOH) points, is expanding its infrastructure to meet rising consumer demand for flexibility. Recognizing that lockers are no longer a premium feature but a baseline expectation, GLS partnered with Bloq.it to deploy smart, battery-powered lockers across Italy and Spain, accelerating rollout in three of its most strategic markets.

GLS was looking for a partner who could move fast, adapt to market complexity, and deliver a consistent, high-quality experience for both customers and drivers.

"In the B2C space, we’re seeing a huge shift from home delivery to out-of-home options. Customers want flexibility, convenience and freedom. That means we need to offer lockers as a standard part of our delivery options. Not as a premium, but as a baseline.”

— Johan Holstein, Director of Digital & Last-Mile Transformation at GLS.

The flexibility of Bloq.it Battery-powered NEXT gave GLS the freedom to launch in diverse environments, without waiting on electrical permits or complex civil works. A product built to offer all features a user should expect from a locker, with no compromises on location or power sources. That agility translated directly into speed of scale.

A Rollout is in Motion

What started as a few conversations in late 2023 has become a fast-moving partnership bringing meaningful change to last-mile delivery. Through Q2 to Q4 of 2025, customers across Spain and Italy will have hundreds of lockers available in their neighbourhoods, making parcel pick-up and drop-off more accessible than ever before. This is about building infrastructure to support how people want to live, with freedom, flexibility, and reliability built in.

"Installing a grid-powered network takes time. Battery lockers? You can go live in days. With Bloq.it, we turned concepts into operations across countries at a speed we didn’t think possible.”
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— Peter Rønde, Business Development OOH Advisor at GLS

More Than Just Hardware

Bloq.it’s role didn’t stop at supplying parcel lockers. Their team became an extension of GLS operations in several countries, managing everything from site surveying and city-specific planning to transport, warehousing, and on-the-ground installation.

For GLS, lockers must reflect their identity, not just in branding but in overall user experience. GLS is all about providing excellence and convenience.

Bloq.it not only perfected the hardware details like special paint finishing, but they also tailored the interface and on-screen experience for each market, adapting language, design, and interaction flows to local expectations.

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These custom experiences are being scaled across thousands of lockers, creating a network that will ensure GLS can provide a consistent and familiar experience to their customers, as in any of their out-of-home service.

Bloq.it’s deployment teams, located in key cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, and Rome, worked hand-in-hand with local GLS teams to simplify and accelerate the rollout of thousands of lockers, without compromising on quality.

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“Bloq.it didn’t just deliver parcel lockers — they showed a willingness to align with our tone, our pace, and our standards. While not everything is perfect, their intent to do things right is clear, and that effort sets them apart.”

— Sheila Sastre, Senior Group Development Manager at GLS.

Scaling Together

Bloq.it multi-country operations team allow for an optimised supply-chain flow from top to finish. Making the planning for this expansion run smoothly, while dealing with all the complexities and all the moving parts to ensure GLS have lockers being placed where and when they're needed.

“Our clients often don’t see the complexity behind the scenes. But they feel the outcome: fast installations, smooth operations, and full visibility. Transparency and agility are core to how we work.”

— Miha Jagodic, CEO at Bloq.it

For Bloq.it, a locker is never just a box,  it’s a trusted interaction point. A promise kept. A system that works quietly, but powerfully, as the backbone of the industry and in the background of people’s lives.

“We’re building infrastructure that supports our partners’ identities. That means neutrality, but with deep personalisation. We scale without sacrificing care.”

— Miha Jagodic, CEO at Bloq.it

“Following the tender process, we selected Bloq.it for the strong capabilities it offered and the outstanding availability of its team.”

‍— Sheila Sastre, Senior Group Development Manager at GLS.

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