E-commerce driving growth as Brazil’s SEDEX marks 30th year
Brazil Post (ECT) is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its express delivery service SEDEX this year, with some promising signs for the future of the service. Last week, the company launched a set of commemorative stamps marking the three decades of express services, which began this month in 1982 with collections and deliveries for items up to 5kg between the largest Brazilian cities within 24 hours.
The first year of SEDEX saw 12,000 items sent by businesses and 60,000 by individuals, but after three decades the service has turned into one handling 2bn pieces of mail and 136m packages a year.
One of the recent success stories for SEDEX has been its e-SEDEX service, the service specialising in the delivery of products bought online.
Launched initially in the year 2000, the service has expanded by around 100 cities over the past two years, and is now available in 250 cities across the country, serving 4,000 online retailers.
Last week, Brazil Post said the service delivered 17.7m items in 2011, representing growth of 36% compared to 2010. In terms of sales, the growth was even higher year-on-year, with the BRL 225m ($124m USD) in revenue representing a 51% improvement on 2010.
e-SEDEX now accounts for about 35% of all e-commerce deliveries, the Post said, in a segment in which 30 competitors are operating.
In a statement, Brazil Post said consumers buying through the Internet were looking for delivery speed and reliability as well as a nationwide coverage and real-time information on shipment status.
The e-SEDEX service collects from customer sites and offers at least two delivery attempts to a consumer per day. Features include insurance coverage, online tracking and reverse logistics for returns.
Overall, the e-commerce sector in Brazil is growing by about 26% a year according to new industry numbers released earlier this month by ecommerce intelligence specialists WebShoppers. Total revenues among online merchants was up to BRL 18.7bn ($10.2bn USD) in 2011, and is expected to reach BRL 23.4bn ($12.9bn USD) in 2012.
Brazil Post said its services are responding to growth with the company’s overall investment in infrastructure, which included BRL 200m ($110m USD) invested during 2011, including purchase of 5,259 vehicles and 1,285 forklifts/pallet jacks.
