The national postal service in Belgium, bpost, has reported its results for the second quarter of 2018. On a basic level, the trends they experienced are identical to those seen globally: mail volumes are down but there is opportunity in the expanding parcels market.
For bpost solid growth in ecommerce parcel volumes has been a key source of revenue growth which increased 32.7% in the period, year on year. Bpost’s operating income in Q2 was €928.4m, up 32.7% on the same period in 2017 and they ascribe that growth to “acquisitions and excellent Parcels growth”. Domestic parcel volumes grew by 25.8% “driven by strong e-commerce growth and continued positive trend in C2C”. Revenue for international parcels was up €4.3m.
Bpost has previously said that by 2022 their objective is to become an international ecommerce logistics provider with 45% of revenues generated by activities outside Belgium and 60% of revenues going from parcels and logistics activities serving online retailers.
Our 2022 vision is to be, beyond mail, an efficient global e-commerce logistics player anchored in Belgium. Our transformation will thus continue in order to adapt to evolving customer needs in our fast-paced environment and extended Be-Ne home region, and to ensure a sustainable future for our company.
– Koen Van Gerven, Group CEO
One aspect of that development to become a credible and well known ecommerce player has been a recent partnership with DHL to enhance their delivery offering in BENELUX. The non-exclusive deal under the “Dé Benelux bezorgers” name will facilitate and accelerate the cross-border online shopping experience. Another new horizon will be to find greater revenues from transatlantic shipments.
