Q&A: Lee Graham, Director of Parcel Pending Locker Solutions at Quadient UK

Quadient is the leading provider of innovative parcel management solutions for residential, retail, carrier, commercial, and university clients. With more than 100 years of innovation supporting our clients’ mail and parcel needs, Parcel Pending by Quadient solutions ensure secure, efficient, and convenient parcel deliveries and returns.

Lee Graham is the Director of Parcel Pending Locker Solutions at Quadient UK. Drawing on almost a quarter of a century’s experience in the mail and logistics space, Lee is driving his team to achieve ambitious growth targets as Quadient builds its network of carrier-agnostic lockers.

Prior to his current role, Lee developed new, uniformed sales processes globally across the various Quadient business units. Before joining Quadient, he held a number of leadership roles at Pitney Bowes, spanning sales, marketing and people development

Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I’ve spent nearly 25 years working in the mail, communications and logistics sectors, helping businesses adapt to changing consumer expectations and evolving operational challenges. Throughout my career I’ve held leadership roles across sales, marketing and people development, and before my current position I led the rollout of standardised sales processes across Quadient’s global business units.

Today I’m Director of Parcel Pending Locker Solutions at Quadient UK, where I lead our efforts to expand both our Open Locker Network and tailored smart locker solutions.

What does your company do? / What is your USP?

Parcel Pending by Quadient helps retailers, from small independent stores to large national brands, as well as residential developments, transport hubs, universities, workplaces and other organisations create more value from their physical locations through smart locker solutions.

One of the things that makes us different is that we’re the only UK locker provider to offer both an Open Locker Network and tailored smart locker solutions. That gives organisations the flexibility to choose the model that best suits their business, whether they’re looking to join our Open Locker Network or install dedicated lockers for their own customers, employees or residents.

Our Open Locker Network is open to all carriers and services, giving retailers a simple way to generate more value from existing space. Instead of needing separate lockers for different parcel carriers, they can host one locker that’s used by multiple national delivery partners as part of a single network. Customers benefit from greater choice and convenience, while retailers maximise the value of a single installation and create another reason for people to visit their stores.

What’s special about the platform and your approach?

What makes our approach different is that we don’t see lockers as simply somewhere to collect a parcel. We see them as part of the wider retail experience.

Customers don’t think in terms of separate journeys. Collecting or returning a parcel is usually just one stop in a wider trip, whether that’s picking up groceries, collecting a prescription or running another errand. That’s why we’ve built our Open Locker Network to support far more than parcel collection.

In addition, our locker network is becoming more and more of a multi-use ‘community hub’. Away from sending, collecting or returning parcels, our lockers are used for AirBnB key exchange, luggage storage and much more to come. We truly believe our network will become the most diverse in the world.

What advantage does it add?

Every retailer is looking at how to make their existing store real estate work harder, while continuing to improve the customer experience. Hosting an Open Locker Network locker helps retailers introduce a genuinely useful service without increasing the workload for store colleagues. Because the lockers are fully self-service, they’re easy to operate while creating regular customer visits and new commercial opportunities.

We’ve also seen strong evidence of their wider commercial impact. In our latest survey of Parcel Pending by Quadient locker users, 76% told us they’d visited a location specifically to use a locker – and many of those visits didn’t stop there. Of the people who then went inside the store or used the services available, 82% went on to make a purchase.

For me, that reinforces an important point: when retailers offer services that fit naturally into customers’ everyday routines, they’re creating more opportunities for people to engage with the store as part of the same visit.

How does a product/service implementation actually look like and how do you measure success?

We’ve worked hard to make the process as straightforward as possible. We work closely with retailers from the initial conversations and site assessment through to installation and ongoing support, ensuring deployment is smooth and disruption is kept to a minimum.

Success is measured in different ways depending on the business’s objectives. Locker utilisation is important, but so too are broader measures such as footfall, in-store spend, customer satisfaction, and the overall contribution the locker makes to the location.
How are retailers using your systems to gain competitive advantage and what does best practice look like? Can you share a case study with us?

The retailers seeing the strongest results are the ones using lockers as part of their wider customer experience rather than treating them as standalone parcel infrastructure. They’re recognising that every additional customer interaction is an opportunity to build loyalty, increase footfall and make their locations more useful.

For today’s shoppers, convenience is now an expectation rather than a differentiator, so best practice is about integrating services that fit naturally into customers’ everyday routines and enhance the overall store experience.

Our partnership with the Co-op Group is a good example. As part of their commitment to serving local communities, Co-op introduced Parcel Pending by Quadient lockers at selected stores, giving customers a quick and easy way to collect and return parcels alongside their regular shopping.

The results have been really encouraging. Customer research showed that almost half of Co-op’s locker users either entered or planned to enter the store during the same visit, and 92% of those expected to spend up to £20 while they were there. While every retailer will see different results, it demonstrates the halo effect lockers can create by encouraging customers to combine parcel collection with shopping or using other in-store services.

Are there other companies you partner with?

Absolutely. We work with businesses of all types and sizes, from major retailers and supermarkets to forecourts, residential developments, and other organisations. Alongside that, we partner with many of the UK’s leading carriers and service providers to give consumers greater choice over how they access parcel and other locker-based services.

The strength of the model is that it brings all of those organisations together through a single shared network. Carriers and service providers can extend their reach, host locations benefit from additional footfall and customer engagement, and consumers enjoy greater flexibility and choice.

What challenges and opportunities do you see in UK retail for 2026 / What challenges are retailers facing in 2026?

Retailers continue to face rising operating costs, changing shopping habits and increasing competition for customers’ attention.

Consumers are becoming more intentional about how they spend their money, planning fewer but more purposeful shopping trips. That creates an opportunity for retailers to offer services that give customers another reason to visit while making those trips as efficient as possible.

I also think we’re seeing the role of the physical store continue to evolve. It’s no longer just somewhere to buy products; it’s increasingly becoming a destination where customers can access a broader range of services that fit around their daily lives. Retailers that embrace that shift will be well placed for the future.

How will you address these challenges and turn them into successes?

Our role is really to help retailers make the most of assets they already have.

Hosting an Open Locker Network locker gives retailers another way to attract customers, increase engagement and generate a stronger return from their locations without creating additional work for store teams.

As consumer expectations continue to evolve, we believe retailers will increasingly benefit from services that meet customers where their everyday routines already take them, while strengthening the role of the physical store.

What is on the horizon for you as a company?

Expanding our Open Locker Network remains a major focus, but we’re equally focused on continuing to develop the technology behind it.

We’re investing in new software capabilities that help host locations create more value from every customer interaction. One example is loyalty card integration, which will allow shoppers to scan their loyalty card whenever they collect, return or send a parcel through participating lockers – giving customers another way to earn rewards, and giving retailers an additional customer touchpoint and deeper insight into how shoppers engage with their locations.

Any final thoughts?

Retail has always evolved alongside changing customer expectations, and I think we’re entering another important phase. The retailers that succeed will be those who treat their physical locations as more than transaction points – places people choose to visit because the experience genuinely works for how they already shop.

For us, it’s about helping retailers build destinations that people choose to visit – not simply because they need to collect a parcel, but because they have become a more useful and convenient part of everyday life.

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To find out how Parcel Pending by Quadient can help your retail operation, visit them online here or connect with them on LinkedIn here.