Deutsche Post DHL Group - statistics & facts
Deutsche Post AG is a German postal service and one of the largest international courier companies in the world, operating under the trade name Deutsche Post DHL Group. One of its subsidiaries—DHL Supply Chain & Global Forwarding— was the second largest third-party logistics provider in 2022, with revenues of over 45.59 billion U.S. dollars. The Deutsche Post DHL Group operates in various submarkets of the global logistics industry but held over 40 percent of the Asia-Pacific and European courier and local delivery service provider markets in 2017 and continues to be a key player in the industry today.
As the country with the highest domestic parcel traffic in Europe until 2021, Germany was a lucrative home market for the Deutsche Post AG: Its subsidiary DHL was the primary shipping service provider for online stores. In part thanks to the German consumers preferring home deliveries under three business days, the group recorded the largest share of its external revenue—generated by non-Group third parties—from its express segment. As revenue from the courier, express, and parcel services steadily increased in Germany despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Deutsche Post DHL Group’s annual sales followed a similar trajectory.
The group differentiated itself from most of its leading competitors through the diversification of its operations across the logistics sector. Kuehne + Nagel—the Deutsche Post DHL Group’s main competitor in third-party logistics, ocean forwarding, and airfreight forwarding—did not, for instance, provide postal and parcel services. The group’s versatility has contributed to its consistent growth throughout the pandemic, benefiting from the parcel shipping boom recorded in 2020—unlike FedEx, the leading courier and local delivery service provider in the Americas, which recorded a drop in revenue in 2020, but this increased between 2021 and 2022.
Home advantage in Germany and the rest of Europe
Since its creation, the Deutsche Post AG has acquired various national and international subsidiaries, including DHL International and StreetScooter GmbH—The market leader in light commercial electric vehicle sales in Germany until 2019. The Deutsche Post DHL Group made most of its 2022 revenue in Europe, with over 21.8 billion euros (some 23 billion U.S. dollars) coming from its operations in Germany and 27.7 billion euros (around 29.3 U.S. dollars) from the rest of Europe.As the country with the highest domestic parcel traffic in Europe until 2021, Germany was a lucrative home market for the Deutsche Post AG: Its subsidiary DHL was the primary shipping service provider for online stores. In part thanks to the German consumers preferring home deliveries under three business days, the group recorded the largest share of its external revenue—generated by non-Group third parties—from its express segment. As revenue from the courier, express, and parcel services steadily increased in Germany despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Deutsche Post DHL Group’s annual sales followed a similar trajectory.
A world-leading performance
The Deutsche Post DHL Group consistently ranked among the leading logistics service providers worldwide through the global success of DHL and the subsidiary’s various brands. Based on generated revenue, DHL Supply Chain & Global Forwarding ranked as the world-leading third-party logistic provider in 2020, and continues to be a major player to this day. That same year, third-party logistics had a global market size of over 961.8 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. DHL was also among the top five ocean freight forwarders and airfreight forwarders worldwide in 2022, strengthening the Deutsche Post AG’s global position.The group differentiated itself from most of its leading competitors through the diversification of its operations across the logistics sector. Kuehne + Nagel—the Deutsche Post DHL Group’s main competitor in third-party logistics, ocean forwarding, and airfreight forwarding—did not, for instance, provide postal and parcel services. The group’s versatility has contributed to its consistent growth throughout the pandemic, benefiting from the parcel shipping boom recorded in 2020—unlike FedEx, the leading courier and local delivery service provider in the Americas, which recorded a drop in revenue in 2020, but this increased between 2021 and 2022.
