Parcel Shipping Index contains more valuable details

As noted in our news section, Pitney Bowes, recently unveiled its second-ever ParcelShipping Index, revealing a 48 percent growth in parcel volume over the past two years, and estimating annual growth to continue to rise at a rate of 17-28 percent YOY between now and 2021. The study results indicate rising consumer expectations surrounding online shopping are putting pressure on retailers to deliver on convenience, price, and the availability of products from around the world.

For Jerry Hempstead, president of parcel express analyst firm Hempstead Consulting, the research contains some other nuggets:

"Clearly we see the great potential of China and India as the most populous areas," he says. "Consider the U.S. has 330 million folks, China has 1 billion 330 million people. 

Hempstead also notes that one does see in that data (as its presented) that revenue growth lags shipment growth and that will have to change.

"Companies that transport don't offer "free shipping". Free shipping 'ain't,' he said. "So I expect continued focus, at least on the part of the publically traded companies like DHL, UPS and FedEx (TNT is now gone from the competitive landscape) on yield improvement - translate that into higher shipping charged and stricter shipping rules and fees."

A breakdown of key results across major markets is included below:

United States Continues to Lead the World in Parcel Spend Americas (Brazil, Canada, United States)

• Of the 13 countries analyzed, the United States remains the largest market in terms of spend, recording $95.8 billion in 2016. Parcel volume also increased by 8.2 percent year-over-year, up from 12 billion parcels in 2015 to 13 billion parcels in 2016.
• The annual parcel shipping market in Brazil grew by 13 percent in spend from 2015 to R$11.6 billion in 2016 and 9 percent in volume, up from 558 million parcels in 2015 to 609 million in 2016.
• In Canada, annual parcel spend increased by 2.6 percent, up from $7.1 billion CAD in 2015 to $7.3 billion CAD in 2016. Volume also grew by 4.4 percent from 2015 to 597 million parcels in 2016.
• Germany is the Largest European Parcel Market in both Volume and Spend

Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom)

• Germany is the largest European parcel market – in terms of both volume and spend. Parcel spend increased by 6 percent to €14 billion in 2016. Similarly, parcel volume increased by 6.7 percent to 3.3 billion in 2016. Of note, business to consumer shipments represented 58 percent of all parcels in Germany in 2016.
• In 2016, the parcel shipping market in France grew by 3 percent in spend to €10 billion, and 4 percent in volume to 1.6 billion.
• With a 2014-2016 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12 percent, Italy is among the top three fastest growing markets by volume in the Index. From 2015-2016, parcel volume increased by 10 percent to 801 million parcels, and spend increased by 3 percent to reach €5 billion in 2016.
• The parcel shipping market in Norway increased by 4 percent in spend to 6.3 billion kr, and by 6 percent in volume to 38 million in 2016.
• In Sweden, parcel spend grew by 6 percent to 4.4 billion kr, and volume grew by 9 percent to 108 million in 2016.
• In the United Kingdom, parcel spend increased by 8 percent to £9.7 billion, and volume increased by 12 percent to 2.5 billion in 2016.

Australia Experiences Double-Digit Growth in Parcel Volume (Year over Year)

Asia Pacific (Australia, China, India, Japan)

• In Australia, the parcel market experienced double digit growth in parcelvolume, increasing in 2016 by 13 percent to 794 million, and parcel spend grew by 4 percent to reach AU$9 billion in 2016.
• From 2015 to 2016, the parcel shipping market in China grew by 52 percent in volume to reach 31 billion parcels shipped, and 45 percent in spend to reach ¥400.5 billion.
• Parcel volume in India grew by 22 percent to 412 million in 2016, and spend increased in 2016 by 5 percent to reach ₹115 billion.
• Japan showed a 3 percent growth in parcel volume and 2 percent growth in parcel spend from 2015 to 2016, reaching 9.4 billion and ¥2,401 billion respectively.