DHL together with the Finnish postal operator Posti as well as Bring a subsidiary of Posten Norge, the Norwegian postal operator, joined forces.
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They offer a dedicated B2C infrastructure for parcel deliveries across Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic states. The non-exclusive cooperation that will come into effect on April 1st further extends DHL Parcel's network for cross-border e-commerce by seven countries.
The expansion is in line with DHL's strategy to develop the e-commerce market in Europe and to offer its customers a well-developed infrastructure.
In just two years, DHL Parcel has increased its network footprint to now 16 of the most important European e-commerce markets and offers online retailers a harmonized network with standardized services.
By means of the cooperation with the partners, DHL Parcel is aiming to exploit the strong cross-border online shopping trend in northern Europe as well as the very high e-commerce potential in general.
According to a recent EU Commission report, more than 56 percent of all inhabitants have ordered something at least once in a non-domestic online shop. It is also expected that today's e-commerce volume in the Nordics and Baltics, approximately 22.8bn euros, will grow by 6 percent per annum until 2020.
In the Nordics and Baltics, people are particularly open to online retailing and are above-average users of this service as their expenditures per person significantly exceed the European average.
The delivery network in Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltics will be the largest operated in these markets and includes 6,500 parcel shops and parcel stations by the end of 2016. Unlike in other European markets, it is not common for parcels to be delivered to the customers' doorstep in these countries.
The dense network will thus increase convenience for consumers. Within the framework of the agreement DHL Parcel and the partners defined DHL Parcel Connect as the service standard for B2C cross-border shipments.
This means that online retailers shipping to and from these countries can rely on the already high and now further improved quality they are used to from DHL Parcel.
In fact, Saturday delivery, standardized processes and labels for shipping and returns will allow for faster transit times in the future. ■