Pitney Bowes: UK parcel market set for “huge shake-up” in new trends and technologies
The newly-released Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index 2017 has indicated that the UK parcel market is set for a “huge shake-up” in new trends and emerging technologies in last-mile delivery. Pitney Bowes said that this follows on from last year’s increase in parcel deliveries by 12% to 2.5bn. Spending increased by 8% to £10bn.
“Market growth will give rise to new delivery models like crowd-shipping, on-demand delivery services, evening and weekend delivery and drones,” commented Pitney Bowes, “as companies focus on improving the customer shipping experience by shortening delivery times, lowering delivery costs and adding consumer choice.”
The Index also found that global parcel volumes increased by 48% the last two years, from 44bn parcels in 2014 to 65bn in 2016. In addition, the Parcel Shipping Index forecasts a 20% increase in parcel volume every year from 2017-2021.
China is the world leader in parcel volume, increasing from 21bn parcels in 2015 to 31bn in 2016. The United States follows China as the second largest market in parcel volume (with 13bn), However, the United States is the world leader in parcel spend, recording a $96bn investment in parcel shipments, followed by China at $60bn.
Germany is the largest European parcel market in terms of both volume and spend, with parcel spend increasing by 6% to €14bn in 2016, and parcel volume increasing by 6.7% to 3.3bn in 2016.
Click here to see a summary of the global survey.
Commenting on the UK findings, Ryan Higginson, VP & UK Country Leader at Pitney Bowes, said: “As the UK sees a surge in parcel deliveries, consumers can expect a huge shake-up in last-mile delivery services. If parcel volumes continue to grow at this year’s rate, we could be sending 3.9 billion parcels by 2021.
“We are expecting to see companies meet growing demand with new delivery models, like crowd-shipping, on-demand delivery services, evening and weekend delivery and drones. All of this will help to shorten delivery times, lower delivery costs and increase consumer choice and flexibility.”
Focusing on the UK market, the Index found that Click & Collect has been growing in popularity and is expected to account for 35% of all physical deliveries by 2018.
Other findings for the UK market included:
- The B2C parcel segment currently accounts for 42% of all parcel shipments by revenue in the UK and is expected to grow at a faster pace than the B2B
- Domestic shipments account for 82% of the parcel volume, whereas international inbound shipments and international outbound shipments account for the remaining 18% of parcel volume
- In terms of volume, Royal Mail (47%), Hermes (11%), and Yodel (8%) are the top three parcel carriers in the UK
- In terms of revenue, Royal Mail (35%), DPD (12%), UPS (8%), DHL (7%), and TNT (6%) are the top 5 players
- Amazon has gradually reduced its reliance on Royal Mail to fulfil its own parcel deliveries. The in-house logistics business accounted for 7% of all parcel shipments in the UK in 2016.
