Parcel carriers in Europe should gear up for a surge in international volumes, many more C2C shipments and a changing shipping landscape as Chinese marketplaces go local and as consumers turn to social commerce, DHL executive Markus Reckling told this week’s Leaders in Logistics Summit in Berlin.
Citing forecasts that global e-commerce sales should reach €91 billion this year, he told several hundred participants at the two-day event: “There’s no end to e-commerce growth in sight… but it’s certainly not staying the same.”
Reckling, who is Chief Sales Officer at DHL’s Post & Parcel Germany division, highlighted several key trends – including internationalisation, C2C growth, Chinese direct-to-consumer sales, local-2-local growth, and social commerce – that will affect the parcels business in the years ahead.
“Huge potential”
Highlighting the many opportunities in cross-border business, he declared: “There is huge untapped growth potential for e-commerce players internationally.”
In Europe, for example, German online shops are particularly popular to buy from, whether market leaders such as Amazon, Ebay and Otto or other players, he underlined.
At the same time, about 70% of European consumers are also buying from C2C platforms such as Etsy and Vinted. “Double-digit growth is expected and there will be big changes such as smaller items,” he noted.
Temu warehouses in Germany
Meanwhile, Chinese ‘direct to consumer’ (DTC) platforms “have taken Germany by storm” over the past year and there are now about 7 million shipments a day from China to Germany, he said. “Temu’s growth in just 12 months is incredible,” he commented.
Now, however, the Chinese giant is looking to overcome sceptics about its business model by opening up to sellers based in Germany to create a ‘Local-2-Local’ model with a larger product range, Reckling pointed out. As part of this move, Temu is currently setting up 24 distribution centres across Germany. “I think we will see a totally new business model,” he commented.
Social commerce boom
Another big trend, according to Reckling, will be the rapid growth of social commerce as e-retailers sell much more on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. “Social commerce will take e-commerce to the next stage,” he predicted.
After China, this boom is happening now in the UK where there are about 200,000 parcels a day generated through sales on TikTok. There is a 50-50 split between shipments from China and from the UK, with fulfilment by TikTok itself. “There is a big opportunity here and something to really think about,” the parcels manager told the international audience.
Finally, Reckling also reaffirmed DHL’s commitment to sustainability with “good solutions at a reasonable price” for shippers looking to reduce their Scope 3 emissions from suppliers.
