Increase in parcel volumes drives revenue growth for posts in 2024 and in H1 2025
Despite the ongoing decline of traditional mail volumes, the postal industry worldwide showed increased revenue, benefitting from e-commerce growth and diversification strategies, as revealed in the IPC Global Postal Industry Report 2025 Key Findings.
Holger Winklbauer, CEO of IPC, states: “Posts showed resilience in 2024, despite a challenging economic environment. Postal operators worldwide saw revenue increase by 2.0% on average in 2024, up from an increase of 1.1% a year earlier. This is the result of the efforts of the postal operators to increase efficiency, to diversify and to innovate to better respond to the changing needs of e-commerce consumers on delivery markets. The transformation of postal operators into e-commerce consumer-centric companies is more than ever essential.”
Average revenue grows by 2%
Postal operators worldwide saw revenue increase by 2.0% on average in 2024, up from an increase of 1.1% a year earlier. While growth rates ranged widely across the 53 posts covered in this report, more than two thirds saw stable or increasing revenues in 2024. EBIT margin was -0.8% on average in 2024, slightly down from -0.5% in 2023.
Parcel volume continues to increase and generate revenue growth
After declining by 3.7% in 2022, parcel volumes increased 5.7% in 2023 and continued to grow by 4.4% in 2024. Parcels & express revenue continued to grow, on average, by 3.8% in 2024, up from 2.3% in 2023.
Mail revenue stabilises due to posts’ efforts to increase efficiency
Since 2019, mail volumes have consistently fallen year-on-year due to evolving consumer habits and accelerated business adoption of digital channels. Although the rate of decline varied, the overall trajectory remained downward. Average mail revenue growth returned to positive territory at 1.7%, ending a two-year contraction period.
The share of mail in postal revenue declines further, while the share of parcels and express increases
Over 65% of posts derived less than half of their revenue from mail services in 2024, up from 55% of posts in 2019. In 2024, postal operators accelerated diversification to counter mail decline and stabilise revenues. Parcels & express, financial services, and logistics & freight serve as primary revenue sources alongside mail.
Estimates indicate continued parcels growth in 2025
Across the limited subset of posts that published interim reports for 2025, mail volumes fell almost 10% on average and mail revenue slightly declined by 1% in H1 2025. On the other hand, parcel volumes grew 4% and parcel revenue increased by 3% in H1 2025.
