Estonian postal group Omniva (formerly Eesti Post) posted a parcel volume increase of around 10% during the peak Christmas period last year, compared to Christmas 2014, with the number of parcels delivered to its self-service parcel terminals in the Baltic States breaking all records.
“In the last weeks of the previous year, the number of parcels delivered by Omniva multiplied in comparison with the ordinary numbers,” Omniva said. Almost half of these parcel volumes were generated through deliveries from foreign online shops.
“More than half of the maxi letters come from abroad, indicating that people like ordering goods from other countries. In turn, almost half of the foreign deliveries come from China,” Sten Argos, the Head of Parcels Department at Omniva, explained.
In the days before Christmas, the postal operator transported over 100,000 letters and tens of thousands of parcels per day. “When we compare the parcel volume of the first three weeks of December with the population of Estonia, it can be said that every third person received a parcel delivered by Omniva,” Argos said. “Compared to the usual numbers, the parcel volumes had doubled or even tripled.”
In order to cope with the increased volumes and to avoid delivery delays, Omniva hired extra staff for the Christmas period. “Several office workers were also helping out at the sorting department before Christmas. Thanks to the timely response, we could handle the Christmas volumes nicely and were also able to deliver packages from abroad in a reasonable time,” Argos added.
While parcel volumes continue to grow year by year, the number of letters has gone down, Omniva stressed. Compared to the Christmas period 2014, the number of letters decreased by 14% in December last year. Still, almost a million Christmas cards were sent in Estonia that month.
In the first half of December, Omniva registered a record breaking number of parcels sent to its parcel terminals in the Baltics in one week, with volume increases amounting to 40% in Estonia, 63% in Lithuania and 112% in Latvia in a year-on-year comparison.
Omniva’s Management Board Member Ansi Arumeel said that while the number of parcels in December multiplies each year, the popularity of its parcel machines is striking, boosted by e-commerce. “The popularity of our parcel machines makes us happy, and we have expanded the network of parcel machines each year as well as increased the capacity of the most popular parcel machines by meeting the needs of our customers. We will definitely continue doing this in the coming year.”
“People prefer parcel machines because it is a convenient way of receiving or sending a parcel at a time of their own choosing and without standing in a queue,” Arumeel added.
From this year onwards, Omniva changed its prices for sending mail and parcels. The cost of sending a standard letter within Estonia has increased from 0.55 € to 0.65 €. The prices for parcel machines in the country will also rise by 3.9% while courier prices for Europe will be reduced up to 40%.
The prices of the universal postal service have been raised by an average of 17%. The price of an international standard parcel increases for 19 countries with the increase remaining in the range of 8-15%.
“The main reason for the price increase is increasing labour costs, which account for over 50% of the service costs,” Omniva explained. In case of international deliveries, the cost of transport and delivery have increased.
In September last year, Omniva announced its joint venture with Chinese express operator SF Express to target e-commerce deliveries to Europe and beyond. The Estonia-registered joint venture, to be called ’Post11’, will initially focus on deliveries of goods between China and Europe, using Estonia as a gateway, before moving into other international markets.
Omniva group consists of the state-owned AS Eesti Post as the parent company, and AS Eesti Maksekeskus as a subsidiary, along with subsidiaries UAB Omniva LT in Lithuania and SIA Omniva in Latvia.
