Ecommerce, parcel terminals help Lithuania Post’s volumes soar

Lithuania Post says the number of packets and parcels it is handling on behalf of ecommerce merchants and their customers is doubling each month at the moment. Most recently, the company’s parcel subsidiary Baltic Post, which uses the LP Express brand, delivered the same number of items in the first half of October as it did in the whole of September.

The company said ecommerce was having the biggest impact on parcel volumes.

But, the growing network of 24-hour self-service parcel pick-up terminals – now branded LP Express 24 – is also encouraging the growing volumes, according to Baltic Post director Domas Sabaitis.

“Ecommerce is spreading rapidly in Lithuania. More and more online shops are starting operations,” he said.

“At present, we are working with more than 200 online stores, and LP Express couriers are delivering items both domestically and to other countries. Since the beginning of our operations, every month the number of items increases by two to three times.”

Baltic

Lithuania Post acquired Baltic Post back in June, the company having previously been a joint venture it established with transport company Kautra to run a network of 60 parcel terminals around Lithuania under the brand name SIUNTOS24.

The Post rebranded its courier service as LP Express in September, and in doing so also rebranded its parcel terminal network as LP Express 24.

Lithuania Post says the majority of items purchased from online merchants are being delivered via the self-service terminals.

Parcels can also be sent from the terminals to 22 different European countries.

Last year Lithuania Post’s courier revenue increased by 12% compared to the year before, accounting for 5.8% of the company’s overall turnover.

Parcels helped the Post’s overall volumes to increase by 4.5% year-on-year, but the company saw its share of the country’s postal market shrink by 4.3 percentage points to 90.2%, and its share of the competitive courier market shrink by 0.3 points to 6.7%.

Lithuania and Latvia are currently discussing the possibility of merging their postal services to, in part, take advantage of the growth in parcel delivery across the Baltic region.