DPD Russia further strengthened its position on the domestic express and parcels market with a57% increase in shipping volumes in 2010 and has launched a new B2C delivery service to continue to
profit from the growing retail businesses and e-commerce this year.The positive result for last year is considerably higher than the general market indicatorsshowing growth rates of up to 20%, DPD Russia said. During 2010, more than 6 million parcels weredelivered across Russia with their total weight exceeding 170,000 tonnes.
Compared to 2008, DPD Russia has succeeded in increasing its shipping volumes by over 90% whilemost Russian express operators have reached their pre-crisis volumes, the company said.
The Russian express and parcels market started to recover last year as business picked up indifferent segments of the retail trade. These included home and computer equipment, spare parts,telecommunications, medical equipment, promotional products, building materials, clothing andfootwear. These product groups make up a significant share of the total express shipments.
In the course of 2010, DPD especially focused on its regional expansion in Russia with 18 newbranches opened in different regions of the country leading to reduced transit times and extendedgeographical coverage. Parcel delivery across Central Russia can now be carried out within one day.The total number of terminals in Russian cities has been expanded to 60.
This year, DPD plans to continue its regional expansion with 20 new branches to be opened.Leonid Zondberg, Commercial Director of DPD in Russia, said: “The expansion of the regional networkis one of the main strategic goals of DPD Russia. Growing our economic activity is particularlyimportant in smaller Russian cities due to the rapid retail growth.”
In addition, the company has modernised its two largest terminals in Moscow and St. Petersburgrespectively. At its terminal in Moscow, DPD has established a state-of the-art sorting complexdesigned to process 6,000 parcels per hour. Thanks to the full automation of operations includingscanning, sorting, measuring and weighing of parcels, DPD was able to increase the number ofparcels handled on a daily basis by 50%. Currently, the central terminal processes 30,000 parcelsdaily. The terminal in St. Petersburg has been moved to larger premises with an area exceeding4,000 sqm enabling to provide not only delivery services but also 3PL solutions.
To profit from e-commerce, which is the main growth driver of the Russian express market, DPDRussia launched a new parcel service ‘DPD Consumer’ in April to target internet shops and otherdistance sales companies.
With DPD Consumer, online shoppers get their goods delivered to their homes profiting from thecash-on-delivery service at affordable prices with DPD optimising the customers’ expenses. Theservice provides delivery of shipments weighing up to 400 kg in 100 Russian cities. Two deliverymethods are possible including home delivery and delivery to service points.
Zondberg highlighted the main advantages of the services: “Reliable delivery times, aneconomical delivery service, a choice of different shipment types – these are the main advantageswhich ensure the uniqueness of the new solution for online stores.”
