PostNL gets most revenue from ecommerce

Ecommerce is getting increasingly important for Dutch logistics company PostNL. During the first half of this year, 51 percent of its revenue was related to ecommerce. PostNL is focusing less on postal activities and more and more on the delivery of parcels. Selling Postcon is just the latest example of this trend.

PostNL became the major logistics company it is today by delivering mail in the Netherlands. But nowadays, delivering letters is not something that’s very profitable anymore. PostNL has been increasingly focusing on delivering parcels, which is also shown by the fact the company doesn’t see itself as a traditional mail business anymore, but more as a postal and logistics ecommerce service provider.

Transformation into ecommerce logistics service provider

This week, PostNL announced it would sell its subsidiary Postcon, one of the biggest mail providers in Germany, to Quantum Capital Partners. Herna Verhagen, CEO of PostNL, commented: “The sale of Postcon marks another step in our strategy of focusing on our core markets in the Netherlands and Belgium, and supporting the transformation of PostNL into an ecommerce logistics service provider.”

51% of revenue related to ecommerce

That transformation is going on for quite some time now and recently, a new milestone was achieved. The company’s latest financial results show that 51 percent of its revenue during the first half year of 2019 was related to ecommerce. Last year, the company achieved revenues worth 2.8 billion euros, 48 percent of which derived from ecommerce activities.

During the first half year of 2019, PostNL’s parcels division grew 13 percent to be worth 402 million euros. Meanwhile, the addressed mail volume declined by 9 percent.

PostNL still wants to acquire competitor Sandd

As PostNL has been assigned by the Dutch government to carry out the Universal Postal Service, meaning amongst other things, they need to deliver mail five days a week. In order to cut down on costs, PostNL wants to acquire its competitor Sandd, something that was denied at first by regulator Authority for Consumers and Markets in July. PostNL is now waiting on a final decision.