Finnish postal and logistics group Posti (formerly Itella) posted a solid 9% growth in parcelvolumes during the Christmas period in December, despite recession.
In terms of total volumes for 2014, Posti transported 32.6 million parcels surpassing thevolumes of the previous year by 800,000 parcels. This equals a year-on-year increase of 2.45%.
During the busiest weeks in December, Posti delivered about one million parcels, setting a newrecord. To cope with the peak Christmas volumes, the company hired 3,300 seasonal employees duringthe period, added shelf space, home delivery of parcels and increased the rate at which parcelterminals were filled.
An obvious driving force for the parcel volume growth is e-commerce with parcel pointsincreasingly gaining in popularity across Finland as pick-up points for online purchases.Meanwhile, parcel points have become a standard delivery option for online stores. Last year, over50% more deliveries were made to parcel points, compared to 2013.
Posti also expanded its service point network last year to currently 1,450 service points,including 460 parcel points in addition to postal outlets. In the beginning of this year, thecompany plans to install over ten new parcel points.
“For many consumers, online stores are a natural place to shop. According to our study, over 50%of consumers planned to do Christmas shopping online. E-commerce has grown 5-10% last year,” AndersFalck, Business Director, Itella Posti, said.
Looking ahead to this year, he added: “We are developing ever more diverse services to supporte-commerce and to make the daily lives of our customers easier. Posti serves consumers at differentservice points with extensive opening hours. The new Posti mobile application gives an estimate ofthe delivery time of a parcel and also has many other useful features. We are continuing to investin the development of mobile and web services.”
