The parcel market in Europe - revenue by segment 2010-2020
Although gradually declining since 2010, the B2B (business to business) parcel services still accounts for the largest share of the European parcel market, generating an estimated 35 billion euros of revenue in 2018. However, this is expected to drop below 34 billion euros by 2020. Conversely, the B2C (business to customer) and C2X segments are expected to grow over the consistently in the coming years.
Parcel market
The parcel market is generally defined as including the delivery of packages up to around 40 kilograms, although this can vary slightly between countries. Deliveries of items other than packages, such as mail and documents, or larger items such as freight, are excluded. Also excluded are same day courier services, although express delivery services are included. In 2017, the global parcel delivery market was valued at around 289 billion U.S. dollars (including same-day couriers). At that time, DHL was the largest provider in both Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
Reasons for growth
Three categories of delivery are included in this statistic: business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), and consumer to consumer/package returns (C2X). The latter two categories have seen strong growth due to their centrality for online commerce, the prevalence of which has grown in every EU country since 2009. Online retailers such as Amazon, which has almost doubled its European revenue over the last five years, deliver their products using B2C parcel services. ‘Peer to peer’ online services such as eBay, which has also increased its European revenue in recent years, rely on C2X package services for users to send each other the goods purchased.
Parcel market
The parcel market is generally defined as including the delivery of packages up to around 40 kilograms, although this can vary slightly between countries. Deliveries of items other than packages, such as mail and documents, or larger items such as freight, are excluded. Also excluded are same day courier services, although express delivery services are included. In 2017, the global parcel delivery market was valued at around 289 billion U.S. dollars (including same-day couriers). At that time, DHL was the largest provider in both Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
Reasons for growth
Three categories of delivery are included in this statistic: business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), and consumer to consumer/package returns (C2X). The latter two categories have seen strong growth due to their centrality for online commerce, the prevalence of which has grown in every EU country since 2009. Online retailers such as Amazon, which has almost doubled its European revenue over the last five years, deliver their products using B2C parcel services. ‘Peer to peer’ online services such as eBay, which has also increased its European revenue in recent years, rely on C2X package services for users to send each other the goods purchased.
