The Key Findings report provides a distillation of data and analysis included in the IPC Global Postal Industry Report, a member-only publication analysing 50 postal operators worldwide and published in November each year. Highlights from the Key Findings report are shown below.
The global postal industry continues to sustain growth and generate profits during times of significant structural change. On aggregate, total postal industry revenue reached €425.3bn in 2016, up €1.2bn on 2015 results. Parcels and express was by far the key growth driver in 2016, with revenue up €5.6bn and the vast majority of posts reporting e-commerce-fuelled volume growth.
As core mail volumes have declined, posts have looked to grow and diversify revenues in two ways: via expansion of existing operations, or by acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships. As a result, diversification is on the rise with non-mail revenue accounting for an increasingly large share of global industry revenue. Apart from mail, the three main sources of industry revenue are parcels and express, financial services and logistics and freight; on average, both the parcels and logistics segments saw revenue grow faster than mail in 2016.
As urban, tech-savvy consumers buy more online, strong growth in internet retail is set to continue.
Euromonitor International forecasts that global e-commerce will be worth €1.8tn in 2021. By that time, m-commerce will account for more than half of all online sales. On a regional level, growth will be driven by emerging countries including those in Asia Pacific: cross-border e-commerce to and from China, for example, is expected to more than double over the next five years. Apparel and footwear, media and consumer electronics will remain the three largest e-commerce product categories, and growth in online food and drink sales will create opportunities for specialised services like on-demand and grocery delivery.
Want to know more? The full version of the IPC Global Postal Industry Report 2017 includes over 130 pages of industry and operator analyses. The report is available to IPC members for free, and is also available for purchase by non-members. A full table of contents, as well as further details on how to purchase the report, are available here.