Home General The Continuous Growth of the UK’s Courier & Shipping Market

The Continuous Growth of the UK’s Courier & Shipping Market

by Olufisayo
UK’s Courier Shipping Market

One industry which has grown exponentially in recent times, and continues to do so, is the UK courier and shipping industry. Casting back to 2012, the total number of parcels shipped was 1.7 billion – fast forward to 2018 6 years later and this figure was 3.65 billion. Courier and express delivery skyrocketed a remarkable 12% in 2018 which made a growth of 62% from just 2014.

The Future

It is expected that the market for courier delivery will continue to climb over the next 5 years and it was predicted that volumes would maintain double-digit yearly growth between 2019 and 2023 rising by 54%. So, what is the reason for this surge in courier and shipping in recent years?

Growth of Ecommerce

The most obvious reason has been the continued growth of eCommerce. Brits are preferring online shopping as opposed to shopping in-store and this is easy to see why as it can be done from the comfort of your own home 24/7, you get much greater variety and it is often much more affordable too.

More Online Stores

The sharp rise in eCommerce is also seeing more and more people start their own online stores because this can be relatively straightforward to do. This means that there is greater availability and even more goods that need to be shipped each year so it is no surprise that growth is happening so quickly.

Multiple Shipments

Additionally, you must factor in that often it is not a case of one order resulting in just one delivery too. There is often a free returns policy with online stores and people will be more inclined to return products because they do not get a chance to properly examine them and (if clothing) try it on.



This means that you then have the return shipment and possibly another shipment as a replacement product. Not only this, but subscription orders have become hugely popular in recent times where regular orders are made weekly/monthly.

Strain on Delivery Companies

This all puts tremendous strain on delivery companies, particularly when you consider that consumer expectations have changed drastically in recent years.

The rise of the same and next day delivery means that consumers expect fast and convenient shipping which is an enormous challenge. In order to meet these demands, it is important to use experienced courier companies which can be found with experts like Parcel2Go.

It is amazing to look back at how much the courier and shipping industry has grown and developed in recent years mainly due to eCommerce.

While the industry has grown exponentially, this has also created a huge challenge for delivery companies that have so many orders to process but also need to make sure that they are offering fast and efficient deliveries to meet modern consumer expectations.



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