DPD Group: we have demonstrated resilience, flexibility and agility
GeoPost/DPDgroup has announced its 2020 results and its strategy for the next 5 years. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, DPDgroup’s performance has resulted in a 42% increase in revenue growth Y-o-Y.
By 2025, DPDgroup aims to expand core activities and accelerate initiatives through its plan named “Together & beyond.”
Its revenue increased to €11bn, a 42% growth compared to 2019, constituting 35% of Le Group La Poste’s revenue in 2020. It delivered 1.9bn parcels worldwide, or 7.5m per day, recording an increase of around 500m compared to 2019. While more than half (55%) of the parcels delivered worldwide were B2C, a 57% growth compared to 2019. DPD said, the pandemic accelerated certain trends such as a heightened urban logistics demand and a greater sense of environmental responsibility. With the soar experienced in urban logistics, Stuart, the technological platform for express urban delivery, made 19.7m deliveries in France, Poland, Spain and the UK, increasing 75% Y-o-Y. The market also noticed a significant shift towards B2C, as 55% were recorded as 2C volumes.
Additionally, specific delivery categories such as food and healthcare experienced unprecedented demand. In France, for example, Chronofresh more than doubled volumes in 2020, increasing by 115%.
The company also implemented contactless delivery and opened more than 70 new hubs and depots, now totalling 1,200, as volumes grew by 24%.
Several key developments took place in the year 2020, such as the takeover of BRT (85%), Italy’s leading parcel delivery company, Geis Parcel, logistics company in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and an increase to 98% capital in Brazil’s leading parcel delivery player Jadlog.
Boris Winkelmann, CEO and Chairman of DPDgroup, states: “At DPDgroup, we have demonstrated the resilience, flexibility and agility expected of an organisation our size. These qualities helped us keep the world in motion during the pandemic, quickly creating and adopting new practices and coping with increased volumes efficiently. These strengths will be key in seizing the new opportunities that lie ahead.”
“Together & beyond”: DPDgroup’s strategy
DPDgroup states its objective for 2030 to become the international reference in sustainable delivery and a leading enabler of the e-commerce acceleration by building on three pillars.
Expanding core activities
The aim is therefore to bolster DPDgroup’s position in European B2B and European road network segments of business in a context of tougher competition. DPDgroup wants to become a European “one-stop shop” for B2B and B2C, especially for SMEs. The intra-EU cross-border strategy aims to enhance service proposition, door-to-door operational excellence and strengthen cross-border capacity management.
Accelerating initiatives
DPDgroup aims to develop a mass market approach tailored to each country and push out-of-home (OOH) initiatives by densifying its parcel shop and locker network and growing its presence in the C2C segment. It plans to double its network to reach 90% European, with 100,000 Pickup points, including 70,000 parcel shops and 30,000 lockers. It also aims to capitalise on healthcare and food services, leveraging its temperature-controlled delivery and its urban logistics network.
DPDgroup wants to accelerate its urban logistics development by focusing on five high potential services: same day, urban hub-to-home deliveries, time slot evening deliveries, ship from store, grocery “proximity points” as an infrastructure for urban services and micro fulfilment capabilities to enable h+ delivery in urban areas.
Conquering new horizons
DPDgroup aims to capture value from its existing intercontinental presence, while bolstering its position in South East Asia, Middle East, Africa and South America and aims to offer solutions for the intercontinental e-commerce market.
Asendia
Asendia, the joint venture between Le Groupe La Poste and Swiss Post, already operates international e-commerce services and has developed complementary e-commerce capabilities with its participation in eShopWorld. By joining GeoPost/DPDgroup, both Asendia and DPDgroup are said to benefit from significant cross-selling opportunities and strengthen their position. DPDgroup intends to increase the share of intercontinental business up to 20% of its total revenue by 2025.
Sustainability
Each of these objectives will be pursued in conjunction with green innovation and environmental commitment such as the objective to reduce by 30% its CO2 emissions per parcel by 2025 (vs. 2013), according to the company. In October 2020, DPDgroup launched a plan to provide low-emission delivery in 225 European cities and 80m Europeans by 2025.
Federator model
In the last two decades, many partnerships have shaped the DPDgroup, as such it will pursue the expansion of its footprint with a partnership based “federator” model, aiming to place local knowledge and expertise at the core.
Boris Winkelmann concludes the overall ambition and goal of DPDgroup: “2020 had a profound and lasting impact on the e-commerce and logistics industry. I am proud of my team’s resiliency and success and believe we are better positioned than ever to become the international reference in sustainable delivery and a leading enabler of e-commerce. There are numerous opportunities to be seized, we can rely on our operational excellence and innovation spirit, so there is no limit to what we can achieve in 2025 together and beyond.”
