InPost, the European leader in out-of-home (OOH) delivery, is growing at an unprecedented rate. Events in the first half of this year have yielded very good financial results, of which more later.
Undoubtedly, the most spectacular event was the acquisition of Mondial Relay, the French leader in out-of-home deliveries operating in France, Benelux and the Iberian Peninsula. The value of the transaction finalized on July 1 amounted to €513m (US$600m). Thanks to this transaction, InPost has become the leading delivery platform for e-commerce in Europe.
Another new service introduced to the Polish market is food delivery (including fresh products). The service was implemented in cooperation with the MAKRO Polska network and allows customers to select from over 10,000 products for delivery within 60 minutes of ordering, or within the following days with a choice of time window. This is another step in the development of temperature-controlled last-mile deliveries, after the company launched a network of automated parcel machines (APMs) capable of storing goods at temperatures of +16°C, +4°C and -18°C.
The company has so far entered partnership agreements with six Polish cities under the “Green City” program. The program supports the development of Polish cities in line with the ‘smart city’ idea – by offering modern services to their residents, and developing an optimal and ecological APM network. As part of the program, parcel locker units will be equipped with photovoltaic panels, electric car chargers, innovative anti-smog paving or air-purifying vegetation planting.
InPost recently launched a new same-day delivery service. Shipments for delivery within the same city that are lodged at the distribution center by 4pm will be delivered to an InPost parcel locker the same day. The new functionality is available to all InPost customers and at no extra charge. In the first stage, deliveries were launched in Warsaw and Łódź, and by the end of the year they will be available in Poland’s 20 largest cities.
And now let’s quote some official financial data closing the company’s operations in the first half of 2021.
- Revenue of PLN 1.65bn (US$408m), up 54% year-on-year.
- Adjusted EBITDA increased by 73% to PLN 695m (US$177m).
- EBIDTA margin was 42.1%, up ~470 bps YoY.
- Total APMs increased 56% YoY to 15,572 units
- Parcel volumes in Poland increased 53% YoY to 199 million, driven by a 74% increase in parcel locker compartments to almost 1.9 million.
- International parcel volumes increased by 314% YoY to 2.9 million parcels, driven by a 110% increase in the number of parcel lockers in the UK and a 115% increase in locker capacity.
- Capital expenditure increased by 53% YoY to PLN 329m (US$84m).
- At the end of the half-year, the company recorded seven million active users of the “InPost Mobile” application in Poland.
- The market-leading Net Promoter Score (NPS) for parcel locker delivery in Poland rose to 72.
- According to the KANTAR survey, 89% of consumers choose parcel lockers as the most preferred form of delivery.
Observing the development of OOH delivery, consumer preferences, and trends in the last-mile delivery market, there is no doubt that solutions based on parcel lockers and PUDOs will develop very dynamically in the coming years and competition in this field will be fierce. After all, the number of good locations to place OOH delivery points is limited.
Follow us on LinkedIn