Given that Europe’s e-commerce logistics landscape is projected to reach a revenue of about US$900bn by 2028, it is critical for stakeholders like retailers and service providers to understand critical logistics performance metrics like parcel transit time, first-attempt delivery success rates, on-time rates and issue ratios. Against this backdrop, Parcel Monitor has released an article that provides an overview of key performance highlights and emerging trends in Europe’s major markets in Q1 2024.
Key highlights of the article include:
Performance of top three domestic trade routes in Europe in Q1 2024
The UK (GB-GB)
In Q1 2024, the UK’s domestic e-commerce logistics sector maintained strong performance metrics. With an on-time rate of 98.8% and a first-attempt delivery success rate of 95.1%, the total domestic parcel transit time is an impressive 1.23 days. Even with a minor issue rate of 5.97%, carrier-related issues accounted for about 22.1% of these issues.
The performance of leading carriers highlights the effectiveness of the UK market even more. For instance, Royal Mail recorded a 1.23-day parcel transit time, a 94.7% first-attempt delivery success rate and a 98.9% on-time ratio.
Germany (DE-DE)
Germany has quickly emerged as a center for logistics and e-commerce with a market that is expected to expand annually. In fact, with an overall parcel transit time of 1.31 days and a first-attempt delivery success rate of 92.8%, the domestic logistics market demonstrated strong performance in the first quarter of 2024. Furthermore, the on-time ratio stood at 96%, and the issue ratio was 9.75%, with 27.8% of these issues carrier-related.
Top logistics companies maintain their position as industry leaders – DHL Paket achieved a transit time of 1.3 days, a first-attempt delivery success rate of 93.2% and an on-time ratio of 96.3%.
Denmark (DK-DK)
According to the latest market report, the revenue of Denmark’s e-commerce market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 9.17% from 2024 to 2029. The domestic e-commerce logistics sector in Denmark has performed consistently, with 91.2% of packages arriving on time, a first-attempt delivery success rate of 95% and a package transit time of 1.54 days. Meanwhile, the issue rate was low, at 3.37%, with 17.5% of the complaints being related to carriers.
PostNord Denmark demonstrated its efficiency in domestic deliveries and lead the market with a transit time of 1.42 days and a first-attempt delivery success rate of 96.4%. GLS Denmark was not far behind, with a first-attempt delivery success rate of 95.6% and a transit time of 1.5 days.
Performance of top three cross-border trade routes to and from Europe in Q1 2024
Netherlands-Germany (NL-DE)
Cross-border logistics between the Netherlands and Germany has a parcel transit time of only 1.3 days. Impressively, the first-attempt delivery success rate was 95.5% and the on-time rate was 97.7%, demonstrating a very reliable service. Nonetheless, the issue rate stood at 6.16%, with carrier-related issues accounting for 26.5% of these, suggesting potential areas for logistics operations improvement.
With an overall transit time of 1.3 days, a first-attempt delivery success rate of 93.6% and an on-time rate of 97.7%, DHL Paket outperformed other major participants in the logistics sector, such as GLS Germany and DPD.
Czechia-Germany (CZ-DE)
The logistics corridor between Germany and Czechia is dependable and efficient, as seen by the 1.18-day parcel transit time. Both the on-time rate of 97.3% and the first-attempt delivery success percentage of 96.1% further demonstrated excellent performance. Despite that, there may be areas for improvement, since the issue rate stood at 5.36%, of which 25.4% was carrier-related.
A prominent logistics carrier in the sector, GLS Germany reported a longer transit time of 2.15 days in Q1 2024 but still managed an 88.1% first-attempt delivery success rate and a 95.7% on-time rate.
Germany-Austria (DE-AT)
The longer parcel transit time of 2.29 days indicates that the Germany-Austria trade route presented particular issues in Q1 2024. There is potential for improvement in the first-attempt delivery efforts since the success rate of 84.5% was on the lower end. A noteworthy issue rate of 17.5% was also noted, with carrier-related issues accounting for 14.4% of these issues.
Österreichische Post achieved a transit time of 2.28 days, an 85.0% first-attempt delivery success rate and an on-time rate of 99.9% in Q1 2024, which is comparable to DHL Paket‘s exceptional logistics performance.
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