Once again the Hermes Group delivered more parcels in Europe over Christmas 2015 than the year before. In December alone, Hermes companies shipped around 25 percent more parcels than in the same period in 2014. This represents the strongest results in the company's history at this crucial time of the year for the parcel delivery industry. Key to this success lies primarily in encouraging developments at Hermes parcel companies in Germany, Austria and the UK. Having introduced new mobile services for the retail trade, these companies have been participating significantly in the ongoing boom in e-commerce. Hermes is also looking to push ahead with its strategy for growth in 2016 wit the Hermes Group generating additional capacities and expanding its global portfolio.
„We are delighted to have recorded such exceptionally successful figures over Christmas 2015 and at the same time posting the strongest end of the year in the company's history“, explains Frank Rausch, CEO of Hermes Logistik Gruppe Deutschland and Hermes Transport Logistics GmbH. "In Germany, we clearly exceeded forecasts and, just in time for the festive season, reached more private and retail customers than ever before. This requires top-rate preparation and powerful operational units at Hermes' hubs, depots and in our European network of partners. This particular effort by colleagues, clients and partners alike has earned our highest praise."
Germany remains the largest market served by Hermes with a total of 36.6 million parcels being shipped in December, up 15 percent year-on-year - an increase of 900 percent compared to December 1986. Again, at Christmas more major clients, but especially more small and medium-sized retailers shipped their goods by Hermes in its B2C business. At the same time, the volume of C2C private customers grew across the country. The greatest number of parcels were shipped in Dusseldorf, Stuttgart and Hamburg which shipped more than one million parcels to local customers. On Christmas Eve alone, just under 11,000 tours were made throughout the country, ensuring that parcels sent on time arrive safely in line with our delivery pledge. The busiest depots in the Hermes network were Mannheim (up 48 percent), Frankfurt (up 39 percent) and Regensburg (up 37 percent). New digital services help speed things up: ten times as many customers used the mobile parcel label in 2015 and the Hermes app for smartphones and tablets chalked up its 1.5 millionth download just prior to Christmas.
Besides the positive trend on the domestic scene, German customers are increasingly using Hermes to ship parcels abroad. Most often parcels were sent to Austria and the UK which are also served directly by Hermes.
In Austria, Hermes was able to profit significantly from the growing e-commerce activities of a number of renowned internationally expanding retailers. As a result, volumes shipped within Austria rose by around 20 percent. Trade between Germany and Austria was appreciably higher. In the light of the expanded range of services Hermes introduced at its 1,600 Austrian ParcelShops, many customers decided to ship their parcels with Hermes for the first time. Since 2015, deliveries have also been made on Saturdays - providing a parcel service six days a week. In addition, in collaboration with the Austrian Post, 13,000 parcel boxes have been installed at private customers.
In 2015, Hermes UK had its most successful Christmas since the company was founded. This enabled it to post the strongest growth within the Hermes Group: in December, Hermes UK shipped 30.3 million parcels - up 24 percent on the same period 2014. Carole Woodhead, CEO at Hermes UK comments: "We are really proud of our strongest Christmas business to date and the professional way our teams handled operations. With our minds on our peak season, we were foresighted in our investments last year, expanding a second line at our largest hub in Warrington, opening 125 new depots and employing 3,000 extra couriers to cover the Christmas business. All this hugely increased our capacity and enabled us to provide a fantastic service around Christmas."
A clear highlight of the British Christmas business was 'Black Friday', an original sales event, with customers tempted by online retailers with daily discounts. Taking place on 27 November, Black Friday brought Hermes UK - partner to the largest distance sellers in the UK - around 8.2 million additional parcels. The UK network worked at full capacity throughout December, processing sometimes more than one million parcels daily at 22 different logistics centres. The highest-volume day was 4 December with over 1.4 million parcels being distributed. There is also an clearly identifiable trend in the UK towards ParcelShop deliveries. Forty percent of UK parcels were shipped to one of 4,500 Hermes ParcelShops as an alternative to home deliveries.
Hermes UK starts 2016 with a major IT project: it is updating its scanner technology at over 20,000 pick-up/drop-off points, laying the ground for the introduction of new digital services. The project, with an investment totalling several million euros, is currently one of the largest corporate IT plans in Europe. In addition, Hermes UK is opening an additional hub in Rugby in 2016.