Hermes Logistik, the leading B2C/C2C parcels competitor to DeutschePost in Germany, has overtaken its arch-rival in terms of the size of its retail network, and isplanning to use its outlets for letters when the German mail monopoly ends in January 2008.
The Otto Group subsidiary said that it now has 13,000 PaketShops acrossGermany, which is more than Deutsche Post’s 12,000 post offices and postal agencies. The PaketShopsare “shop-in-shop” services provided through retail outlets such as petrol stations, newsagents,dry cleaners, and similar shops under a partnership business model.
“The success of the PaketShops clearly shows that our approach of “people instead of machines” was right,” said Hermes Logistik managing director Hanjo Schneider in astatement. “Instead of anonymous machines, we have relied on people while extending our network –and our customers really appreciate that.” Success factors were the shops’ locations, long openingtimes and inexpensive prices, he stressed. Private parcel volumes were growing at double-digitrates.
Hermes would continue to extend the network, including inthinly-populated rural areas where Deutsche Post planned to close post offices. “Nearly 40% of thePaketShops are located in rural areas. Although with 13,000 PaketShops we have reached our originalplanning target, we will introduce further PaketShops everywhere where there is a need.”
Schneider described the introduction of parcel services to otherEuropean countries in September as “a complete success”. “Not only have we generated additionalvolumes but have also won new customers. We expect that the share of international parcels willincrease to over 5% in the near future.”
In a separate interview with the German magazine Wirtschaftswoche,Schneider said that Hermes planned to start using the PaketShops for letters once Deutsche Post’sdomestic mail monopoly ended in January 2008. “We will install letter boxes at the HermesPaketShops. Our joint venture partner TNT will take charge of deliveries.”
Schneider added that the group’s B2C parcel revenues grew by 12% in thefirst half of 2006. According to CEP-Research information, Hermes had a 31% share of the GermanB2C/C2C parcels market in 2005, behind market leader DHL but clearly ahead of GLS, DPD andUPS.
