Amazon is planning to set up a Germany-wide network of local delivery centres and create its own operation for services such as same-day deliveries in major cities in a blow to current partners DHL, Hermes and DPD.
The e-commerce giant will expand its initial delivery operation launched in Munich last year to other large cities and metropolitan regions, Bernd Schwenger, managing director of Amazon Germany Transport, told transport newspaper DVZ.
“At first, we will go to major cities and develop distribution centres close to the city,” he explained. The company is already looking at appropriate sites, and cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt are likely to be at the top of the list.
This new delivery service will reduce the e-commerce giant’s reliance on the big parcel carriers but Schwenger emphasised that it did not reflect a loss of confidence in the service of its current delivery partners DHL, Hermes and DPD. “Amazon wants to become more flexible and offer new services such as same-day delivery,” he explained.
Amazon launched its own delivery services in Munich last October, based on a 6,000sqm leased warehouse at Olching, close to the A8 and A99 motorways. Goods are delivered there from the regional logistics centre at Graben/Augsburg and are then distributed to addresses in Munich by some 200 drivers working for six local delivery partners, Interkep, Liefery, Rico Logistics, Systemlogistik, Krae Transport and AZ Logistik. However, these delivery service partners operate their own vehicles and there are no Amazon-branded trucks or vans.
A similar distribution model could be set up for other cities, using a mix of locally-based couriers and delivery firms. Amazon currently has nine regional fulfilment centres across Germany and plans to start construction this year of a new regional logistics centre at Werne, in north-west Germany, which would go into operation in 2017.
In November 2015, Amazon already launched free same-day deliveries for members of its Prime loyalty scheme in 14 metropolitan regions, including Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and most of the Ruhr region (Essen, Dortmund, etc.). Goods ordered by midday are delivered on the same evening by DHL or city couriers.
According to industry estimates, Amazon currently accounts for about 500-700 million parcels out of around 3 billion parcels shipped on the German parcels market annually. Any expansion of own delivery services is likely to impact on the volumes of its current parcel partners.
Amazon’s plans for Germany are reminiscent of its approach in the UK where the 10 regional logistics centres have been complemented by an expanding network of 24 local delivery stations located close to large cities. The company’s Amazon Logistics unit works with some 90 different delivery partners who provide final-mile deliveries from these delivery stations.
The company has also used this city logistics infrastructure to launch services such as Prime Now, which offer one-hour, two-hour or same-day deliveries of urgent orders, in several cities, including London, Manchester and Birmingham.
News of the planned Germany expansion follows confirmation that Amazon has chartered a plane for regular flights between Poland, Germany and UK in what could be the start of its own air operations in Europe.
