Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI), a global technology company has unveiled the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index, an annual report that measures both volume and spend for business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-business and consumer consigned shipments with weight up to 31.5 kg in 12 major markets, consisting of the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Japan, Australia and India.
A media statement says that based on proprietary and published data, the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index found that parcel shipping volume was 31 billion parcels in 2015, which was a 2.9 percent increase over 2014.
The Index forecasts parcel shipping volume to grow annually at five to seven percent for a total increase of 20 percent by 2018, with cross-border shipping leading the way.
“With the growth we’ve witnessed over the last several years in ecommerce, it is no surprise the global parcel shipping market continues to expand at a strong pace,” said Lila Snyder, president, global ecommerce for Pitney Bowes. “That growth in parcel shipping is having a profound effect on businesses. Increased demand has led to greater service options from an expanding number of global, national and regional carriers. However, managing multiple carriers and shipping goods across borders also creates new challenges and raises complexity.”
The Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index, which is unique in its focus on the parcel shipping market, confirmed that the U.S. is the largest parcel shipping market of the countries studied with more than 11.8 billion parcels shipped and $85 billion spent in 2015. Japan, Germany, UK and France round out the top five countries with parcel volumes of 9.4 billion, 3.0 billion, 2.2 billion and 1.5 billion units respectively in 2015.
Globally, the parcel shipping market is being driven primarily by growth in ecommerce with an increasing number of online shoppers around the world. Of the countries in this index, the U.S. has the largest retail ecommerce market followed by the UK, Japan, Germany and France.
“The strong growth we are seeing in parcel shipping has led to increasing complexity for businesses of all sizes,” said Mark Shearer, executive vice president and president, Pitney Bowes Global SMB Solutions.
“Small and medium businesses) in particular are having trouble managing the growing number of shipping options, service levels and 24/7 tracking. New and improved technologies, including cross-border and cloud-based multi-carrier office shipping platforms, can help businesses of all sizes optimise their parcel shipping operations to maximise efficiency and deliver the best possible customer experience.”
