DPD Germany has considerably expanded its depot in Salzgitter, southeast Lower Saxony, with an investment of €7.5 million, in time for the upcoming Christmas period when it expects record volumes with 15% growth.
Thanks to the expansion, the parcel sorting capacity at the facility will increase to 11,000 parcels per hour, compared to only 7,000 previously, which has been made possible through the construction of a new unloading facility and sorting hall.
After the expansion, up to 27,000 parcels will be sorted and distributed at Salzgitter on a daily basis, which represents capacity growth of approximately 50%. As the result of the depot expansion, the number of delivery personnel will also increase from 120 to 140 people. In the longer term, the number of delivery tours can be expanded to over 180. In addition, 15 new jobs will be created in parcel sorting operations.
"Throughout Germany, DPD is registering strong growth rates, boosted by the boom in e-commerce,” DPD Regional Manager Dr. Jörg Schmeidler said. "Sustainable growth can only be ensured by the continuous expansion of our network. We therefore regard this investment of €7.5 million as a long-term commitment to Salzgitter and the jobs at this location."
For this year’s Christmas season, DPD Germany expects a new record with 15% more parcels to be shipped during the holiday period than a year ago. Compared to the Christmas season last year, the number of users registering for DPD’s digital delivery services which provide more convenient and efficient delivery is expected to rise by 300%.
On peak days before Christmas, DPD expects to deliver more than 300,000 parcels per hour and over 2 million parcels a day. In order to handle these record volumes, the company will hire up to 4,000 additional staff for parcel deliveries as well as sorting and distribution centres.
During the Christmas period, daily parcel volumes are due to be up to 50% higher than on a normal delivery day in 2016, with the boom in e-commerce being the most important growth driver. Currently, more than 35% of the parcels transported by DPD are destined for private consumers – a trend which continues to rise.
"With the growing proportion of private consignees, our digital services are becoming increasingly important,” DPD Germany CEO Boris Winkelmann said. "We have noticed that more and more consignees wish to track their parcel shipments and manage them individually. We are delighted that they are taking full advantage of the various individual possibilities which we offer them for this purpose on our digital channels. This is the only way to ensure convenient and efficient deliveries during the busy Christmas period."
The use of digital parcel services is rising dramatically, in particular on mobile devices. By the end of the year, DPD expects its mobile app to be downloaded more than 1 million times. The app and the company's own online portal paketnavigator.de (Parcel Navigator) currently count 2.5 million users per month, with a further 300,000 users who have already registered – this means four times more registered users than just one year ago.
In addition to a predicted delivery times slot which has been reduced down to 30 minutes as part of the DPD Predict service and map-based parcel tracking in real-time, the app and the Parcel Navigator also offer numerous possibilities for individual delivery arrangements. For example, recipients can give instructions for their shipment to be deposited at a secure location, or arrange digitally for the delivery to be made on a different day. In addition, every shipment can be individually redirected, for example to a parcel shop, to a different address (e.g. the consignee's place of work), or to a specific neighbour.
The DPD app also enables recipients to give a digital tip to the delivery driver via PayPal, and to rate DPD's service. Since its launch one year ago, this rating function has already been used by 500,000 consignees, who have given the delivery service an average rating of 4 out of 5 possible stars.
In terms of delivery options, home delivery remains the preferred choice for parcel recipients. According to DPD’s analysis of user behaviour on its digital channels, however, alternatives to home delivery are gaining in popularity. The “deposit” option has emerged as the second most popular option, with 53% of the customers choosing it via digital channels. A new feature which is now available in the DPD app enables registered users not just to provide a one-off “deposit confirmation” for a specific shipment, but also to give DPD general authorisation to deposit all future parcels at a specific place.
Further alternatives are delivery to a parcel shop (selected by 13%), to a specific neighbour (10%), or to a different address such as the consignee's place of work (8%). In contrast, there is a decline in the number of consignees who select a different date for home delivery – only 15% of the recipients currently choose this as their preferred delivery option in the DPD app or Parcel Navigator. Only one year ago, the number of users choosing another date for home delivery equalled 24%.
DPD Germany’s current network consists of 76 depots and 6,000 Pickup parcel shops nationwide. The company employs 8,000 staff and 9,000 delivery drivers transporting around 350 million parcels per year.
