Peak season for parcels: record-breaking Christmas followed by boom in returns

•DPD Germany sets all-time record just before Christmas

•By mid-January DPD expects approx.40% morereturnsthanusual

•DPD app and redirection options are booming

•Pickup parcelshop network growing strongly: growth of 50% on year before

Aschaffenburg, 28December2016 –DPD Germany can look back on the most successful Christmas business in the history of the company, with the international parcel and express service provider transporting a record number of parcels in the weeks before Christmas. Many consumers did their Christmas shopping earlythis year, as a result of which the record volumes were distributed more evenly across the holiday season. For DPD the day with the largest quantity of parcels was 20 December, on which the company shipped2.06million parcels throughout the country. During peak times the DPD drivers were delivering more than 300,000 parcels an hour to both private and business consignees. Compared to the 2015 Christmas season DPD registered a 15% growth in volumes and- at around 10% - parcel quantities once more showed a double-digit increase on the average for the rest of the year.

The number of returns also rose significantly in December. DPD expects that post-Christmas return shipments will continue to rise up to the middle of January. For January as a whole DPD expects up to 40% more returns than during a normal average month. The reason for this is the boom in e-commerce: growth on the parcels market is being driven above all by shipments to private consignees. For some types of goods within the B2C segment the return figures are very high, with the HDE and IfH Cologne organisationsreporting that in the clothing field around 57% of shipments are returned to the shipper.[1]

More than one million redirections before Christmas, accompanied by one million downloads of the DPD app

This year DPD's Christmas business was more than ever characterised by digital services which enable more convenient and efficient delivery. Usage figures on mobile devices, in particular, are rising dramatically. Shortly before Christmas DPD registered the one millionth download of the company's app. Both the app and the company's online portal paketnavigator.de currently have user figures of 2.5 million per month, with more than 300,000 users already registered – four times as many as just one year ago. In addition to map-based live tracking and a delivery forecast which is accurate to the last 30 minutes, the app and the Parcel Navigator also offer a range of possibilities for redirecting parcels individually. In the run-up to Christmas these redirection options were used more than one million times.

In the pre-Christmas period the most popular delivery option was the so-called 'deposit okay'. This enables consignees to specify that theirshipment should be left in a safe place, for example in the garage or garden shed. Further alternatives are delivery to a parcel shop, to a specific neighbour or to the consignee's place of work. In contrast there was a decline in the number of consignees selecting a different date for a further home delivery – before Christmas only 17% of consignees opted for this possibility.

DPD's Pickup parcelshop network: 50% growth in volume

There was a highly positive development in DPD's countrywide network of parcel shops.Compared to the 2015 Christmas season the volume of parcels handled by the company's Pickup parcelshops once more rose by around 50%. The main reason for this development is that the parcel shops are playing a steadily rising role as an alternative delivery and pickup point. They enable consignees who are not at home during the day to collect their shipment from one of the 6,000 Pickup parcelshops throughout the country at a time which is convenient to them. Many consignees take advantage of the possibility of themselves selecting the parcel shop to which their parcel is delivered. Thanks to this option, for example, collecting a parcel can be carried out conveniently and flexibly on the way home from work.

Image: After Christmas many a gift is returned to sender. Over the Christmas period DPD registers a 40% growth in returns.

Image available in print quality at .

About DPD

DPD Germany is part of DPDgroup, the second-largest international parcel delivery network in Europe. Throughout Germany DPD has 76 depots and 6,000 Pickup parcelshops. A workforce of 8,000 and 9,000 delivery drivers are in daily operation on behalf of the company’s customers. Every year the No. 2 on the German parcels market ships around 350 million parcels – providing carbon-neutral transport operations at no additional cost to the customer.

Through innovative technology, local knowledge and dedicated customer care, DPD provides the best possible experience for both shippers and shoppers. DPD’s industry-leading Predict service is setting a new standard for keeping customers closely in touch with their delivery, with real time tracking of their delivery, a one-hour delivery window and a range of options for redirecting parcels. In recognition of this innovation DPD received the Digital Transformation Award 2015.

As part of DPDgroup, DPD Germany has access to 27,000 local Pickup points across Europe, and delivers to 230 countries worldwide. DPDgroup’s 30,000 people work together to deliver 3.6 million parcels each day. DPD’s sole shareholder GeoPost, a wholly-owned La Poste subsidiary, posted sales of €5.7 billion in the year 2015.

Press contact

DPD Dynamic Parcel Distribution GmbH & Co. KG

Peter Rey

PR Officer

Wailandtstraße 1

63741 Aschaffenburg

Phone +49 (0)6021 492-7066

[1]HDE / ifH Cologne in "Key data in 2015 online shipping, present and future status"published by the Internet World trade fair on 15.12.2015: