DPD announces development plans to double its shares

DPD has announced it aims to doubles its share of the German business-to-consumer shipping market throughout the next four years by “making the parcel digital”. The parcel delivery company has recently upgraded its services to enable its customers to know when to expect the parcel within a 30 minute time frame. DPD has said it aims to increase its share by 15% by 2018 as a result of new innovations.

DPD has invested in technology that allows the real time tracking of parcels, allowing its customers to follow the journey of their parcels and packages on an online map. The company, with its majority owned by French postal company La Poste Group via Geopost as a subsidiary, has also said its services will provide customers with the flexibility so that customers can redirect their shipments right up until they are scheduled to be delivered.

Boris Winkelmann, Chief Executive for DPD Germany, has said: “The possibilities offered by our map-based live tracking system are unique on the German parcels market. With this facility, DPD is making the parcel digital, linking the online world of e-commerce with the off-line world of physical goods.”

In addition to upgrades of its services, DPD is also expecting to move forward in making Saturdays a “normal delivery day”. As this is already considered in the majority of regions in Germany, the company’s approach to expand this further should be completed by May 2015. Winkelmann has said: “We are focusing on all shippers who wish to offer their customers more than just the kind of standard parcel shipping they have been used to for many years now.”

British online retailer ASOS is one of the first companies to take advantage of the new service in Germany as it launches its shipping operations from there. The online retailer makes over 60% of its sales outside of the UK, and has recently been taking steps to build new warehouse facilities in China, US state Ohio and within Central Europe.

Matt Rogers, Director of Delivery Solutions and Inbound Supply Chain at ASOS, has said: “Having offered our UK customers a one hour time window with their Express deliveries for some time, we are delighted that this service has now been introduced by DPD for our German customers. All of our German ASOS Premier customers and customers who select express shipping will benefit from this fantastic service.”