DHL extends parcel network across the Nordics and Baltics

DHL has joined forces with the Finnish postal operator Posti and Bring, a subsidiary of Norwegian postal operator Posten Norge. Together they offer a B2C infrastructure for parcel deliveries across Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic states. With 6,500 parcel shops and parcel stations across seven countries it will be the largest parcel network in northern Europe.

DHL announced the non-exclusive cooperation, which will come into effect on April 1st, on its website. There it said the expansion is in line with the company’s strategy to develop the ecommerce market in Europe and to offer its customers a dedicated infrastructure. DHL Parcel is now active in 16 of the most important ecommerce markets of Europe.

“Many of our customers today already ship items to the countries in northern Europe. Together with our local partners Post and Bring, we want to help them grow their business and develop the ecommerce market in these countries as best as possible”, Jürgen Gerdes, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL’s Post, Ecommerce and Parcel division said.

Half of Nordics and Baltics are online shoppers
DHL’s expansion to northern Europe is an understandable one. More than 56 percent of all inhabitants have ordered something at least once in a foreign online store, a recent EU Commission report has shown. It’s also expected that the ecommerce volume in the Nordics and Baltics, now worth about 22.8 billion euros, will increase by 6 percent per year until 2020. In these countries, people are above-average online shoppers as their expenditures per person significantly exceed the European average.

DHL Parcel Connect and new notification system
For B2C cross-border shipments, the three companies will use DHL Parcel Connect. “This means that online retailers shipping to and from these countries can rely on services such as Saturday delivery, standardized processes and labels for shipping and returns”, DHL explained. In addition to this, the three postal companies will establish a system that notifies recipients of their parcels’ likely arrival time. “There will also be customer friendly return solutions across all European markets DHL Parcel operates in, regardless of whether the parcel is sent from Poland, Belgium or Sweden, for example”, DHL said.

DHL Parcel is now active in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Esotnia, Latvia and Lithuania.