Europe & USA: Last Mile Market, Courier, Express and Parcel Shipments

Konrad Wolfenstein

6 years ago

Europe & USA: Last Mile Market, Courier, Express and Parcel Shipments – Image: Oakview Studios & alphaspirit | Shutterstock.com

European market for courier, express and parcel shipments – statistics & facts

Emergence and development of the market for courier, express and parcel services (CEP)

Since the earliest human civilizations, people have needed to transport goods from one place to another. Economic growth and industrial specialization led to the establishment of larger transport routes. Improved use of technology, coupled with advances in science, has allowed us to deliver to multiple locations much faster and with less effort. The logistics industry connects the business world, and this connection evolves in response to changing market needs.

The emergence of the courier, express, and parcel (CEP) services market exemplifies the evolution of the logistics industry. Changing customer needs and the dynamics of the global economy compelled the logistics market to adapt and create new opportunities. One of these market needs was the demand for a faster, better, and safer way to transport both industrial goods to facilitate production and consumer goods to satisfy the demands of customers worldwide.

Simply put: The CEP market offers traditional postal services faster and more reliably.

Market size of CEP services

While the annual revenue generated by letter postal services has declined globally since 2007, the share of parcel and logistics revenue in the annual revenue of postal services is steadily increasing. Although express delivery represents only a small portion of the total delivery volume, the revenue generated by express delivery accounts for a proportionally larger share of the total revenue of companies in the postal services industry. In 2018, domestic parcel traffic in Europe reached approximately 6.1 billion parcels handled, compared to approximately 4.2 billion parcels in 2012. This is the volume of parcel shipments handled by all operators across Europe, including CEP (courier, express, and parcel) services. In just five years, the revenue generated by providing domestic parcel services in Europe has almost quintupled, reaching approximately €51 billion in 2018.

Outlook for the CEP market

Global parcel shipping volume is expected to continue its steady growth until 2025, reaching approximately 200 billion parcels. If this volume is achieved, shipping volume will almost quintuple in just 12 years. In Europe, the market for express and small parcels is estimated to reach an expected revenue of over €77 billion in 2020. Some markets are far more advanced compared to other countries. For example, the German CEP (courier, express, and parcel) market was the largest in Europe in 2018, handling over 2.6 billion parcels. This volume of parcel handling made the German CEP market five times larger than the second largest, the French CEP market.

European market for courier, express and parcel shipments – Courier, Express and Parcels (CEP) market in Europe

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US Courier, Express and Parcel Market – Statistics & Facts

The courier, express, and parcel (CEP) market in the US comprises companies offering logistics and postal services that differ in the types of services they provide, such as delivery speed or the weight and volume of a shipment. In 2020, the revenue of the North American CEP market was estimated at around €90 billion, and it was expected to grow at an average annual growth rate of five percent between 2015 and 2025.

Courier services encompass the delivery of messages, packages, and mail, and differ from ordinary postal services in features such as speed, security, tracking, signature verification, specialization and customization of express services, and fast delivery times. In the USA, the courier service industry is dominated by FedEx, DHL, United Parcel Service, and USA Couriers. As a premium service, couriers are generally more expensive than standard postal services.

Express services, available both domestically and internationally, offer faster mail delivery. In the US, Priority Mail Express is the expedited domestic mail service operated by the United States Postal Service (USPS). In 2019, the USPS handled over $142.5 billion in total mail volume and employed approximately 497,000 people. Some private couriers own their own aircraft for long-distance deliveries and operate their own delivery networks through companies like FedEx Express or DHL Express. In fiscal year 2019, FedEx Express recorded freight revenues exceeding $7.5 billion.

Parcel (or package) delivery services deliver mail items that are too heavy for regular letter mail. United Parcel Service (UPS) is the largest and most widely used parcel delivery service in the United States. In 2019 alone, UPS generated annual revenue of over $74 billion. Ground transportation accounts for a larger share of the overall parcel delivery market in the United States.