E-commerce drives the revenues of express couriers

E-commerce continues to grow: in Italy, according to the latest estimates released by the Milan Polytechnic and Netcomm in the eCommerce B2c Observatory, in 2017 the value of online purchases grew by 17%. For the first time products, with a growth of 28% compared to 2016, exceeded services.

The result is that the Prometeia sector ''express couriers'' has been able to maintain positive path over the last few years. In 2012, a year of strong domestic consumption crisis (around -4% at constant prices), its turnover held on and then started a path of sustained growth, at the average rate of about 5.5% in value terms. 

Approximately 2500 companies and over 20 thousand employees work in the sector, whose value production accounts for around 4% of total transport. Large companies (those with a production of more than 50 million euros) represent 0.5% of the total in terms of number and approximately 81% in terms of sectorial production. The achievement of a considerable dimension is a decisive competitive factor, in a sector on the forefront of logistics and organizational innovation. Only large and well-structured companies are able to cope with the high competitive pressures that come from the established presence of foreign multinationals. 

On-line commerce, with the development of large platforms where thousands of companies sell their products to the global market by-passing the commercial supply chain, is also changing the sectorial environment leading to a convergence of the B2B and B2C worlds. In this context, the timeliness and quality of delivery becomes fundamental, to an increasingly large and fragmented public.

To become a market leader in the near future the challenge will be on the last mile, focusing on proximity logistics, on modular tariffs and on alternative solutions to home delivery. Therefore, delivery support services (parcel collection and returns management) are emerging, managed by the same couriers with proximity service points or with the support of other subjects such as gas stations, newsagents, post offices and other traditional points of sale.