Billionaire Czech firm delivers smart lockers for companies and municipalities
forbes.cz
One of the largest family businesses in the Czech Republic has launched another, now multimillion-crown business branch. Smart pickup boxes, driven by the Conteg Group, are now installed in a hundred municipalities across the country, gradually replacing traditional post offices. Their next targets include schools and sports centers.
Big business belongs even in the smallest village. In the West Bohemian village of Podhradí, just a few hundred people live—just like in Hrčava in the far northeast, in the so-called Trojmezí near the Slovak border.
What connects them is that both villages are supplied with smart boxes by Conteg. There are now a hundred such municipalities across the Czech Republic—for the family company led by brothers Vít and Vojtěch Voláček, this marks another business diversification.
Conteg’s core business remains IT, industrial switchboards, and other components for data centers. This year, after acquiring two Moravian factories (Global Business and Spálovský, which also supply Siemens), the company is targeting a turnover of two and a half billion crowns, or a hundred million euros—CEO Vít Voláček has long described this as “a standard size for a mid-sized European company.”
At the same time, OX Point, the rapidly growing brand, now generates hundreds of millions annually. It targets both the smallest towns and cities, as well as companies and high-traffic spaces such as Prague Airport and the Main Train Station.
But they're not just another competitor in the “big battle of pickup boxes,” competing against players like Alza, Zásilkovna, DPD, and now GLS under Daniel Křetínský’s leadership.
“It’s no coincidence that we installed many of our pickup boxes right near our borders. We're replacing brick-and-mortar post offices, which have been disappearing lately. The boxes are self-service, operating nonstop, and that's another undeniable advantage,” says OX Point COO Vladislav Král.
Their boxes can also be used, for example, to leave required documents for the mayor or members of the council in a village of several hundred residents. It's not just a storage solution but also an electronic notice board, weather station, or mobile phone charger. The screens can also be used by municipalities for digital advertising.
“Thanks to this, mayors are raising the level of delivery services significantly, and people who use the boxes appreciate it most. We’re open to carriers—Balíkovna, DPD, One by Allegro, and others deliver here,” lists Král.
There are approximately four hundred smart boxes across the country—for example, in the Krkonoše resort of Janské Lázně; in the Karlovy Vary region, every eighth municipality uses OX Point according to Král. “The best marketing comes from personal recommendations among mayors,” he adds.
Another hundred pickup boxes are set to be installed by the end of the year. And not just for municipalities, but internally for companies, often used to transfer keys at auto repair shops. Dozens have been ordered by Tomáš Čupr’s Rohlík.cz.
“Of course, they have a large number of refrigerated compartments, making it possible to store items with a short shelf life safely,” adds Král, noting that this further improves services for smaller towns.
According to Vít Voláček, another potential business branch is supplying boxes to households via developers. Thanks to their cooperation with Balíkovna, it’s like elevating classic post offices into the 21st century—besides packages, boxes can be used for all the aforementioned matters, including frozen food delivery.
Conteg has expanded from the Vysočina region to the world, now highly active in the Middle East, where its switchboards are even in the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and in many projects in rapidly growing Saudi Arabia.
OX Point is fully self-sufficient, manufacturing its own hardware, software, wiring, cooling, and installations.
This opens up further possibilities, such as modern lockers with LED displays and a call center, or smart locks for employee lockers. This year, OX Point delivered 7,500 such lockers for the global player Foxconn.
“These make handling lockers easier for everyone working at the company. Employees no longer have to rely on traditional locks and have one less thing to worry about. Foxconn's security personnel now have better control over who uses the lockers and how, including data tracking,” concludes Král, noting that similar projects could be implemented for schools and sports centers in the future.
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