Germany Domestic Courier, Express, and Parcel (CEP) Market Size

Germany Courier, Express, & Parcel (CEP) Market Analysis

The Germany Domestic Courier, Express, and Parcel Market size is estimated at USD 23.95 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach USD 34.20 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 7.39% during the forecast period (2024-2029).

• The pandemic in 2020 marked a year of standstill in Germany. Consumers and companies suffered from restrictions in their usual routines, but one sector that kept the operations running was parcel and courier services. It processed hundreds of millions of orders that came on top of its usual workload. The German courier, express, and parcel (CEP) market soared to new records during the peak COVID-19 period in 2020, including a near-20% rise in B2C deliveries, as the pandemic accelerated underlying growth trends.
• German citizens received significantly fewer parcels last Christmas than industry experts had expected. In November and December 2022, around 395 million parcels were delivered to private individuals in Germany, 20 million fewer than forecast. Christmas is the most important time of the year for parcel companies. Sales promotions such as Black Friday at the end of November boost consumption, and the closer Christmas Eve gets the more intensively many consumers search for gifts on the Internet. Package volumes are correspondingly high. After strong growth years in Corona times, the parcel industry took a breather, so to speak, last Christmas season. In the 2021 Christmas business, there had been 440 million shipments - much more than before. The 395 million in the 2022 Christmas business is still a significantly higher level than pre-pandemic: in November and December 2019, 366 million items had been sent to private individuals in Germany.
• Postal service providers in Germany are challenged to transport and deliver letters and parcels with fewer emissions in the future. This will require a fundamental restructuring of transport and delivery networks. Players in the market are integrating electric vehicles into their fleets to reduce the emissions from their operations. For instance, in December 2022 Volvo Trucks and Deutsche Post DHL Group signed a cooperation agreement to accelerate the shift to zero exhaust emission vehicles. DHL intends to intensify its transition to heavy electric trucks by deploying a total of 44 new electric Volvo trucks on routes in Europe. The parcel service provider GLS Germany is currently testing parcel delivery by rail as part of its sustainability strategy 'Climate Protect'. In a pilot project running until the end of January, up to 1,000 parcels a day will be sent by train from Nuremberg to Hanover. Other players in the market are also undertaking similar initiatives. In October 2022, DPD Germany and nebenan.de launched "Parcel neighbours" cooperation for reliable and sustainable deliveries. DPD parcel consignees can now find their preferred neighbor on nebenan.de and ask directly whether the person involved can take delivery of a parcel that is on its way. With just a few clicks parcel consignees can now even reach neighbors who don't live in their own buildings. Another advantage of the cooperation is more successful first-time deliveries, and consequently the reduction of environmentally harmful CO2 emissions.
• As the economy is currently back to an upward trend in general, the expectations for the courier, express, and parcel business for the future are positive. If the trend continues as expected, considering a further increase in e-commerce, and backed by estimates of German economic research institutes and relevant companies, a total of 5.7 billion shipments will be delivered in 2025.