DHL extends its European parcel network

Ireland and Romania are the two latest countries to join the DHL Parcel Europe network. DHL has added two more countries to its European parcel network for cross-border e-commerce through partnerships with Ireland’s state-owned provider of postal services An Post and the private Romanian parcel service Urgent Cargus. In November, DHL will also include Croatia and Bulgaria into its parcel network. The foundation for this is two partnerships: one with Croatian postal service Hrvatska Posta and the other with Bulgarian parcel service Rapido.

The ongoing network expansion in cooperation with established local partners in the respective countries is in line with DHL’s strategy to continue its development in the European e-commerce market and offer customers the most extensive infrastructure possible. The clear goal is to establish a presence in all key European e-commerce markets by the end of 2018. “We believe in the European idea and we are aware that people in Europe are longing for community,” says Jürgen Gerdes, CEO Post – eCommerce – Parcel at Deutsche Post DHL Group. “The ‘United Shipping States of Europe’ are more than just a new logistics network. They contribute to creating a greater sense of community among European citizens.”

Today, around six billion e-commerce parcels are shipped within Europe per year, with Germany, France and the UK being the largest e-commerce markets. And even if the industry is booming overall, the full potential is far from exhausted in the area of cross-border e-commerce. According to Eurostat, 55 percent of Internet users in Europe already shop online, but only 32 percent of them also do so outside of their country. By expanding its network, DHL Parcel Europe will be offering services that meet DHL’s standards in 26 countries, offering online merchants the benefits of a uniform network infrastructure and an expanded and standardized range of services in all of these markets.

As a result of these new partnerships, DHL aims to promote long-term e-commerce growth in Croatia, Bulgaria, Ireland and Romania, in a targeted way and to tap into the resulting potential for cross-border commerce. To this end, DHL Parcel Connect has been defined as the service standard for cross-border B2C deliveries. In the future, online merchants will be able to receive the same high delivery quality in these four countries as they have already come to expect from DHL Parcel Europe. For example, delivery times for shipping and returns will be shortened thanks to Saturday deliveries and standardized processes. The four partners will also be introducing new services as well, such as notifying recipients of the expected delivery time for their orders and the option to request an alternative delivery date and location. A customer-friendly returns solution will be introduced as well.

In the course of just three years and following the successful integration of the UK, Spain, Portugal and Russia in early 2017, DHL Parcel Europe’s network now encompasses 26 European countries with the latest expansion along with the domestic market in Germany. The network also includes the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Sweden, France, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovenia and now Ireland, Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria.