German B2C parcel delivery company Hermes Logistik is working on creating a European network togrow its international business, a senior manager told CEP-Research. It will enter the Austrian
market on July 1.Hermes, with turnover of EUR 1,016 million in 2006, is a subsidiary of Europe’s largestmail-order firm Otto Group, which also owns the parent firms of UK home delivery company Parcelnetand France’s Mondial Relay. Parcelnet recently bought the Redcats courier network while Mondial hasannounced plans to start operations in Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and Portugal.
The company, which claims a German B2C market share of about 37%, is again developing wellthis year, with Parcel Shop volumes up by 25% year-on-year as of the end of May, Martin Kreiter,vice president marketing, said in an interview at the Transport Logistic fair in Munich. “We aregrowing well this year, and are winning new third-party customers,” he commented.
On plans for Austria, he added: “We are ready to start. We have the 1,200 Parcel Shops.”Hermes will initially have about 20% of the Austrian B2C market by delivering Otto Group parcels inthe country.
Asked about Hermes’ European expansion plans, Kreiter noted that the Otto Group subsidiariescombined are already Europe’s largest home delivery organisation with 22,000 Parcel Shops. Thecreation of a European B2C network is “one of the challenges for the next few months,” he said.Although it was not yet clear how this would be structured, “we will need one face to the customerin future”, he stressed.
Kreiter confirmed that Hermes Logistik planned to enter the German mail market once the smallletters segment was liberalised as of January 2008. “We know we are losing business becausecustomers take letters and parcels to the post office. If we offer both, then we will win morebusiness.”
Hermes would offer letter services through its network of 13,000 Parcel Shops. Consumerswould be able to post letters in blue letterboxes outside the parcel shops. Hermes would definitelynot have any delivery staff itself but would provide delivery through partners, he said. TNT PostGermany, in which it has a minority holding, was one possible delivery partner.
