Eight operators control €520m parcels market

The fast-growing Irish packets and parcels market is currently worth up to €520m, and the average small business spends €11,000 a year sending items by post and courier, a survey by the Commission for Communication Regulation.

Eight operators dominate the market, according to the ComReg survey.

With up to 40% of the market, An Post is the largest operator, while Nightline, DPD, and GLS have shares of between 10% and 15%, while Fastway and DHL have shares of 5% to 10% of the market by volume.

Express operators, including DHL, UPS, and TNT, charge higher average prices for each item, compared with traditional operators, and large volume senders are charged lower prices.

An average annual spend by an SME on parcel services last year totalled nearly €11,000, the report found. Some 83m to 94m items were carried by operators in 2013.

In volume terms, the market is growing by between 5% and 6% a year, and could grow to be be worth as much as €593m in 2016.

“The study takes a relatively broad view on how the packet and parcel sector is defined at the product and service level,” ComReg said.

“There is a range of various parcel and packet delivery service operators in Ireland, ranging from the national postal operator, domestic couriers and parcel operators, global integrators, and other mail or freight firms that also offer parcel services.

“We find that eight operators account for about 90% of the market.”