The report measures both volume and spend for business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-business and consumer consigned shipments with weight up to 31.5 kg (70 lbs) in 12 major markets, including the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Japan, Australia and India. Parcel shipping volume was 31 billion parcels in 2015, which was a 2.9 percent increase over 2014.

“With the growth we’ve witnessed over the last several years in e-commerce, it is no surprise the global parcel shipping market continues to expand at a strong pace,” said Lila Snyder, president of global e-commerce. “That growth in parcel shipping is having a profound effect on businesses.  Increased demand has led to greater service options from an expanding number of global, national and regional carriers.  However, managing multiple carriers and shipping goods across borders also creates new challenges and raises complexity.”

The index says the U.S. is the largest parcel shipping market of the countries studied — with more than 11.8 billion parcels shipped and $85bn spent in 2015. Japan, Germany, UK and France round out the top five countries with parcel volumes of 9.4 billion, 3 billion, 2.2 billion and 1.5 billion units respectively in 2015. Globally, the parcel shipping market is being driven primarily by growth in e-commerce with an increasing number of online shoppers around the world. Of the countries in this index, the U.S. has the largest retail e-commerce market, followed by the UK, Japan, Germany and France.

“The strong growth we are seeing in parcel shipping has led to increasing complexity for businesses of all sizes,” said Mark Shearer, executive vice president and president of Pitney Bowes Global SMB Solutions. “Small and medium businesses in particular are having trouble managing the growing number of shipping options, service levels and 24/7 tracking. New and improved technologies, including cross border and cloud-based multi-carrier office shipping platforms, can help businesses of all sizes optimize their parcel shipping operations to maximize efficiency and deliver the best possible customer experience.”

Source: Pitney Bowes