Omniva: Handling record-breaking peak volumes also translated into on-time delivery

Compared to the previous year, 2024, when 45 million Omniva parcels were delivered worldwide, total volumes increased by 11%. The record volumes reflect the continued growth of e-commerce and Omniva’s ability to scale its delivery network in line with customer demand.

“The largest growth came from international transit parcels, but deliveries to Latvia and Lithuania also showed strong growth. Parcel volumes in Estonia remain very high, but were comparable to the previous year, reflecting economic uncertainty among local consumers and extremely intense competition in the Estonian parcel delivery market,” said Sven Kukemelk, Chief Commercial Officer of Omniva.

Of all parcels arriving in the Baltics, 24% originated from China. This share has also increased compared to the previous year – in 2024, parcels from China accounted for 21% of all parcels delivered to the Baltics.

“Last year, parcels from the Baltics also travelled farther than ever before. For example, we delivered parcels from our home market to the Comoros, the Northern Mariana Islands, to Samoa, and to Equatorial Guinea,” Kukemelk added.

Smooth Christmas Season Supported by Crowd Delivery

As expected, the busiest parcel delivery period was at the end of the year, from E-Monday and Black Friday campaigns in November through to the Christmas holidays. During the Christmas peak season, Omniva’s largest sorting centre in Kaunas set an all-time operational record by sorting 133,000 parcels per day.

“Handling record-breaking peak volumes also translated into on-time delivery. By Christmas Eve, we knew that all parcels that reached us by 20 December had been delivered as promised,” said Martti Kuldma, CEO of Omniva.

“A major contribution to this success came from crowd delivery. For example, in Tallinn, crowd couriers delivered around 3,500 parcels per week. The crowd delivery model, which is innovative in the postal sector, works well – there is no shortage of people interested in courier work, they perform the tasks in good quality, and thanks to the additional support, customers received their parcels before Christmas, while our own employees avoided the typical peak-season overload,” Kuldma added.

Omniva Expands Its Parcel Locker Network 

Both consumer surveys and Omniva’s internal statistics show that parcel lockers are the preferred delivery method for consumers in the Baltic states. When choosing between competing parcel locker providers, the most important criterion is proximity to home or workplace.

“Listening to consumer preferences, we will significantly expand Omniva’s parcel locker network this year. Our goal is to bring parcel lockers as close as possible to people’s homes and daily routes. We will install community lockers in villages and small towns, near apartment buildings, bus stops and petrol stations,” said Omniva CEO Martti Kuldma.

Community lockers are smaller, battery-powered parcel lockers. The first 150 units will be completed in February–March, with installation starting immediately thereafter. Over the course of the year, 400–500 lockers will be deployed.

In the future, a dense and close-to-home parcel locker network will also enable the use of lockers as digital postal service points. “In addition to parcels, delivering letters and periodicals to lockers would support the sustainability of postal services in a time of declining volumes, while also improving reliability and convenience – items are protected from weather, trackable, and customers always receive a digital notification,” Kuldma explained.