Last Mile Experts: Out-of-Home Delivery in Europe 2021 Report

Last mile logistics consultancy Last Mile Experts and artificial intelligence startup UPIDO have just released a major study on out-of-home delivery in Europe. With the support of DPDgroup and Oracle, this 87-page study covers 28 key players in the European market for out-of-home delivery, including two forms: pick-up drop-off (PUDO) points and automated parcel machine (APM) networks.

The out-of-home (OOH) delivery model is the more flexible, convenient and efficient option for all stakeholders 

As compared to regular home deliveries, there are clear benefits in adopting out-of-home deliveries for consumers, merchants and carriers. For consignees, having out-of-home delivery options gives them flexibility and control in the last mile process, where they can pick up parcels at a proximate location, within a convenient time frame. For merchants and carriers, out-of-home deliveries allow for the consolidation of deliveries, which decreases both delivery costs and the average delivery time. Resources (cars, couriers) can be significantly reduced, while more efficient processes are implemented (dropping off more parcels at the same place, decreasing the number of stops required, and eliminating unsuccessful deliveries due to absent recipients). 

“Out of home is no longer “a nice to have” addition to any last mile service but a key element of any coherent and efficient solution in this space. Sometimes we hear comments such as “our market is not ready for Pudo’s or lockers” and it is almost always because nobody has implemented an efficient and customer centric OOH option. This is a relatively new field with only a handful of experts who really know their stuff.”

– Marek Rozycki, Managing Partner at Last Mile Experts.

OOH deliveries are increasing in popularity, but have yet to reach widespread adoption in Europe 

Here are some key findings from the report that we found particularly interesting: 

1. The post office is one of the top out-of-home delivery options preferred by European e-shoppers

2. Parcel locker deliveries have increased in popularity in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic; albeit unevenly (84% of e-shoppers in Estonia prefer parcel locker deliveries, 55% in Lithuania, 53% in Latvia)

3. When running an out-of-home delivery model, one of the big challenges is having a dense out-of-home (OOH) network to minimize e-shoppers’ carbon footprint at the time of picking up parcels. However, only 5 out of the 28 countries analyzed are achieving the optimal threshold of 10 delivery points per 10,000 inhabitants 

4. Finland is the only EU country that has more than 20 out-of-home delivery points per 10,000 inhabitants

Source: Out-of-home delivery in Europe 2021, p.45

About Last Mile Experts

Last Mile Experts is a highly specialized consultancy focusing exclusively on all aspects of courier express parcel (CEP), postal and e-commerce last mile logistics. With several hundred years of industry experience, Last Mile Expert’s goal is to help CEP companies, postal operators, e-commerce players, potential investors or other stakeholders to improve their performance, operations, organization and technology as well as strategy development or M&A.

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