European parcel carriers deliver strong early peak volumes

Parcel carriers across Europe, including PostNL, PostNord, Bring and Poczta Polska as well as DHL and Austrian Post, are delivering record early peak season volumes following strong Black Friday e-commerce sales.

Both DHL in Germany and Austrian Post already announced that they have recorded new 24-hour parcel volume records during peak 2024. In Germany, DHL Parcel and Deutsche Post jointly sorted more than 12 million parcels on December 2, while Austrian Post achieved a new “Christmas record” transporting more than 1.56 million packages in one day.

Another PostNL record

In the Netherlands, PostNL is celebrating today’s Sinterklaas (Santa Claus/Saint Nicholas) holiday with another milestone. On Cyber Monday (December 2), the postal operator sorted over 3 million parcels in a single day. This broke its previous record of 2.8 million parcels that had been set just a week earlier.

Handling such an immense volume of parcels demands the utmost from the entire supply chain, the company stressed. Webshops are spreading out their online promotions, and consumers are using the PostNL app to specify their delivery preferences. For its part, PostNL has mobilised additional staff and organised an extra delivery day.

“Enormous team effort”

“On Cyber Monday, we set a new record. We have never received so many parcels in a single day — an impressive total of 3 million parcels. Leading up to Sinterklaas, we are seeing continued online shopping at high volumes,” said Stephan van den Eijnden, Managing Director Commerce at PostNL.

“This surge requires an enormous effort. Our employees are truly showcasing the meaning of teamwork in a fantastic atmosphere. Everyone is pulling together to process this record number of parcels — a performance we are very proud of. The tens of thousands of compliments in the PostNL app underpin how much people at home appreciate their deliverers,” he stressed.

“Exceeded all expectations”

Further north, the leading parcel operators in the Nordic countries are also seeing bigger volumes than at the same time of last year after expanding capacity and launching new services ready for peak season.

In Sweden, PostNord’s parcel volumes during Black Week soared by over 17% compared to last year – and were even nearly 7% ahead of the previous record set during the pandemic year of 2020.

“We have seen a cautiously positive trend for e-commerce during the year, but these levels have exceeded all expectations. It is gratifying that so many people choose PostNord as a supplier. There has been a high pressure on the terminals but we have done well,” commented Johan Uddin, Head of Parcel Operations at PostNord Sweden.

“Despite the economic situation, we are seeing a clear increase in consumer willingness to shop. This gives hope that households feel safer financially, which can have a positive effect on the industries in e-commerce that have had a tough time,” added Jan Jacobsson, e-commerce expert at PostNord.

The trend is similar at Bring, the Swedish subsidiary of Norway’s Posten Bring, which delivered 2% more parcels during Black Week compared to last year. “The package volumes have been more dispersed this year than before, and we expect large volumes in the future,” commented company press officer Matilda Adelborg.

Asia boom in Poland

Another postal operator profiting from booming consumer purchases on Asian shopping portals such as Temu, Shein, Aliexpress and JD.com is Poczta Polska. The Polish postal company says it has delivered 400% more shipments from Asia, especially from China, between April and November this year compared to last year. Daily volumes increased by 25,000 from October to November.

Poczta Polska, which is in the midst of a large-scale transformation programme, stressed that it is increasingly focusing on e-commerce, benefiting from its network of 20,000 collection points (post offices, parcel shops and parcel lockers) and operational capacity to deliver up to 4 million shipments per day to 15 million addresses through the country.

JD Logistics international growth

Meanwhile, one of those Asian companies is seeing strong volumes throughout its international network. JD Logistics, the logistics arm of JD.com and with ambitious international expansion plans, announced a record increase in orders processed through its global overseas warehouse network on Black Friday as it supported merchants and brands worldwide across a diverse range of industries, including apparel, electronics, home decor, food, fast-moving consumer goods, and both online and offline retail.

In Europe, JD Logistics’ warehouses in the Netherlands, the UK, France, Poland, Germany and Spain saw outbound orders increase by 200% on Black Friday. The on-time outbound rate for at least one retail brand in Poland was 100% even as the brand’s volume order doubled.

In North America, the company achieved a 24-hour on-time outbound rate of as high as 99.8% from its more than 20 self-operated and collaborative warehouses. Similarly, there was record-breaking order volume from its No. 2 warehouse in Sydney, Australia, and rapid growth at its No.1 collaborative warehouse in Japan.