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.

Download the 2022 IPC Global Postal Industry Report Key Findings report here.

 

As economic uncertainty replaces COVID-19 as the major challenge facing the postal industry, e-commerce and digitalisation continue to shift posts’ volume demands.

On aggregate, total postal industry revenue reached €465.6bn in 2021, up €25.3bn on 2020 results. The continued pandemic-driven uplift in e-commerce was the engine of industry growth as increasing volumes saw parcel revenue rise €13.6bn.

Mail volume erosion continues 

 
 

E-substitution remains the key driver of structural mail volume decline across the postal industry, and habits adopted in the pandemic have accelerated the descent. Since 2011, aggregate mail volume has fallen by close to a third in advanced economies and declined by over three quarters for some posts. 

 

The economic outlook is uncertain

 
The global economy rebounded strongly in 2021, as countries began to shake off the effects of COVID-19. Some national economies reached pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2021. However, new tailwinds emerged towards the end of the year and into 2022; supply chain disruption, falling output, rising inflation and the war in Ukraine will all weigh on growth, with the global economy set to expand just 3.3% in 2022, after seeing 6.0% growth in 2021.

 

Marketplaces increase delivery capacity

 

As the pandemic continued to push demand for e-commerce, e-retailers have invested to be able to meet this growth. Amazon is a case in point: over the past five years, the firm has spent billions on operating, staffing and expanding its fulfilment, sorting and delivery facilities worldwide. In the US alone, it delivered an estimated five billion items in 2021.

 
 

Want to know more? The full version of the IPC Global Postal Industry Report 2021 includes over 140 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.

€427.2bn
postal industry revenue
5.0%
percent revenue growth
5.6%
growth in parcel volumes

Download the report

Click here to download the publicly available IPC Key Findings report

GPIR

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