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.
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