E-commerce driving parcel industry

The growth of e-commerce has contributed significantly to parcel shipping revenue of $9.2 billion last year, an increase of 6.2 per cent over the prior year, according to a new report.

The Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index found that Australians receive an average of 34 parcels a year, with total parcel volume in Australia growing 8 per cent to 841 million parcels, up from 778 million in 2016.

“Global e-commerce giants continue to raise the bar, resetting consumer expectations when it comes to shipping. As retailers and marketplaces look to cross-border commerce to drive growth, carriers must create efficient, seamless routes to market,” Pitney Bowes ANZ country manager Stephen Darracott said.

“Over the next year, we expect businesses will be undergoing a digital transformation of their mailing and shipping workflow, improving their efficiency and inbound and outbound tracking capabilities.”

Ease of shipping, delivery and tracking parcels domestically and internationally is contributing to the forecasted exponential growth of the parcel delivery market, which is expected to grow by 1 billion parcels a year by 2021.

Internationally, the report notes that China’s parcel volume (40.1 billion) accounts for 53 per cent of total shipments, and is triple that of the United States (11.9 billion), with Japan (9.6 billion) following shortly after.

The US ranks highest in parcel shipping revenue at $107 billion, generating 38 percent of the total revenue of the 13 countries indexed. The average shipping price of a parcel in the US is $8.95, compared to $1.83 in China and $2.64 in Japan.

Japanese residents received, on average, 76 parcels per person in the year of 2017, with the UK following at 48, and Germany at 41.

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