Engineering the Data Core for DPD: Unifying Payments and Parcel Logistics

How Codetribe's critical API layer streamlined DPD's payment reconciliation and complex parcel dispatch

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Partnering with Annanow, Codetribe built the central integration platform for DPD's next-gen logistics, solving two e-commerce's key friction points: complex payment reconciliation and fragmented parcel data. Focusing on Cash on Delivery (COD) integration and data handling for non-standard parcels, our robust, API-first architecture automated payment workflows and enabled the sophisticated dispatch logic for a scalable experience.

Client

Geopost (DPD)

Country

France

Market

Globally

Type

Enterprise

Story

As a global leader in parcel delivery, DPD is at the epicenter of e-commerce growth, delivering over 8 million parcels worldwide each day. To maintain its market-leading status, DPD needed to innovate beyond just moving parcels. The primary challenge became handling the complex data accompanying them, specifically fragmented payment-on-delivery systems and the logistics data for varied parcel types.

Business Impact

Automated COD and Accelerated Cash Flow

The most immediate impact was the complete automation of the COD financial workflow. The central API layer eliminated manual errors and dramatically reduced the operational cost of reconciliation. This provided DPD with a robust, efficient foundation to accelerate cash flow, reduce financial risk, and confidently grow its COD-based e-commerce services.

Enabled Profitable Delivery for Complex Packaging

The intelligent logistics engine was the breakthrough for non-standard parcel logistics. It solved the data-handling challenge, which was the core of the packaging solution. By processing complex parcel data before dispatch, the platform gave DPD the ability to fully automate the process. This enabled offering a reliable, profitable service for high-value or bulky goods that competitors could not easily match, transforming a logistical hurdle into a scalable asset.

Unified Payment and Logistics Data for Seamless Partner Onboarding

By centralizing both payment and complex logistics data onto a single API-first platform, the system gave DPD a powerful tool for growth. It allowed them to rapidly onboard new e-commerce retailers and logistics partners without costly, custom integration work. This ability to seamlessly connect new partners unlocked new revenue streams and cemented their position as the data-driven backbone of the ecosystem.

96%

Reduction in Payment Reconciliation Error

Focus Area

Domains

SaaS

Enterprise Software

E-Commerce

Mobile Apps

API

Architecture

Data Analytics & Visualization

Databases

Integrations

Services

Discovery & Scoping

Database Design & Modeling

API Design & Specification

Front-End Development

Back-End Development

Authentication & Authorization

Monitoring & Logging Setup

Payment Gateway Integration

Third-Party Integrations

Industries

Supply Chain & Logistics

E-Commerce & Retail

Tech Stack

Java

JavaScript

Vue.js

Spring Boot

MySQL

Hibernate

AWS

Challenges

DPD faced two critical, interconnected challenges. First, the rise of COD and other payment-on-delivery options created a significant financial reconciliation problem. Without a unified API layer, connecting disparate retailer POS systems, multiple payment gateways, and the courier's live collection status was an error-prone manual process, delaying cash flow. Second, the "one-size-fits-all" logistics model was failing to handle the diversification of e-commerce. The company needed a digital packaging solution to process data about non-standard parcels, such as bulky, high-weight, or temperature-controlled items. Lacking an intelligent system to classify this data and automate dispatch logic made it operationally impossible to efficiently deliver complex goods at scale.

Solutions

Codetribe engineered a single, robust solution to solve both problems. We built a centralized, API-first microservices architecture to act as the core orchestration layer. For payment integration, this API gateway securely connected all retailers, third-party payment gateways, and DPD's live COD status, creating a single source of truth for automated, real-time financial reconciliation. Concurrently, this same platform housed the intelligent logistics engine for the packaging solution. This API-driven engine processes real-time data on parcel attributes like weight, dimensions, and special handling requirements. It automatically classifies this data and applies sophisticated logic to match the order to the optimal DPD courier and vehicle before dispatch, enabling automated matching for all non-standard parcel types.