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Poundland goes online - at £4 a pop

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Poundland, the Black Country-based £1 for everything chain, has made its long-awaited move to online shopping– but it will cost you £4 a go.

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The new online store is geared up for people wanting to order in bulk for special events, such as moving home, children's parties, a new baby, Christmas or Halloween – and the £4 charge is a flat fee that doesn't change.

Orders over £50 will be delivered free, however.

Poundland has been working on the online store for years and launched it at noon yesterday, with just a brief announcement. And it is still just a trial - if it doesn't work out the company says it will simply walk away and stick with its expanding network of stores.

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With a provisional go-ahead from competition watchdogs for its £55 million takeover of the 99p Stores chain, boss Jim McCarthy says the company is on track for around 1,400 stores just in the UK over the next decade. It is also opening more stores in Spain.

He said: "The online shopping market is a rapidly growing channel and one which could provide a significant potential opportunity for us. This trial is an important first step towards giving more customers access to our amazing value."

The company has been working behind the scenes on an internet shopping platform for years. The company's head of e-commerce, Paul McDermott, was recruited back in 2012.

He is heading the small team, understood to be based at Poundland's Willenhall headquarters, that is running the online business. It is being operated with parcel delivery company Hermes.

As part of the trial Poundland is offering a limited selection of 2,000 products, including household brands and it own ranges such as Jane Asher's Kitchen, Tommy Walsh's DIY range and the award-winning Make Up Gallery cosmetics line.

Initially it will be available only in the UK and Northern Ireland through the company's ww.poundland.co.uk website. There is no minimum order value and customers should receive their purchases within four to five working days.

It is also offering multiple deals, such as three 49p cans of Coke or Irn-Bru for £1, or a case of 24 for £7, or two tins of Heinz soup for £1 and a case of 12 for £5.

Poundland will have set its own time limit on its trial run at online retailing, but is not revealing how long it will continue before deciding whether the experiment is a success or a failure.

A key part of the operation has been the choice of Anglo-German parcel courier Hermes Group as its delivery partner.

Hermes, with sales of around 2 billion euros and handling nearly 500 million parcels and letters a year, employs nearly 12,000 people across Europe. It has a UK operation based in Leeds with an 85,000 sq ft national distribution centre in Nuneaton as well as a network of Parcelshops and couriers nationwide.

It already handles online deliveries for a string of companies as well as for Amazon and eBay.