The UK express parcels market is approaching £7bn in size, having grown slowly in recent years in response to economic conditions. Parcel volumes suffered during the 2009 economic downturn and price pressure continued into 2010 with conditions only improving slightly in 2011-12.

The main drivers of parcel volumes are:

The growth of home shopping, which has been the main driver of growth in the consumer delivery sector right through the last decade, and depends on both customers' shopping habits and household penetration of enablers such as PCs and broadband access.

The overall level of economic activity, because parcels carriers serve such a wide variety of customers across so many different sectors of the economy: this stalled during 2008-09 and has faltered since.

Operator trends:

- There has been a trend for the operators with international networks and home delivery focus to increase their share of revenues at the expense of standalone UK B2B players such as UKMail and City Link.

- The sector continues to operate on narrow margins and, as an industry with significant fixed costs, is vulnerable to dips in volumes.

- Combined profitability across all the major operators fell from over 2% (EBIT) in 2006 to a net overall loss in 2008. It returned to profit in 2010 but available figures suggest another overall loss in 2011.

- Factors such as compatibility of operations with market segment focus appear to be far more important than the effects of scale in determining operator profitability.

Publication Overview

In this report Apex Insight reviews the UK parcels market encompassing both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer segments. The report quantifies the market size, historical growth rates, segmentation patterns and levels of industry profitability while reviewing key factors behind these figures. It also carries out an in-depth analysis of the relevant drivers of industry growth - in particular the macroeconomic environment and home shopping - setting out historical trends and available forecasts. The forecast for industry growth by segment is based in this analysis of historical trends and our understanding of growth drivers. While many reports on the industry contain data and description, a critical objective in writing this report has been to supplement this with insights and conclusions.

Who Should Buy This Report?

It is intended for parcels carriers themselves, users of their services, partners, investors, banks, analysts, consultants and other parties with interests in the sector.

Companies Mentioned

- APC

- City Link

- DHL

- DPD

- DX

- FedEx

- Hermes

- Interlink

- Nightfreight

- Parcelforce Worldwide

- Royal Mail

- TNT Express

- Tuffnells

- UK Mail

- UPS

- Yodel

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/h674jn/uk_express_parcels