Consumer revolution puts pressure on Nordic carriers

12th June 2018

According to Johan Holgersson at Bring carriers in the Nordics are facing a consumer revolution that puts pressure on them to innovate. However, carriers have different opinions on how this is going to happen. In the UK, consumers have forced innovative delivery services.

Four of the biggest carriers were for the first time gathered on stage for debate. The Nordic Delivery Conference 2015 in Copenhagen on May 13 was the setting for the debate, where Bring, DPD UK, PostNord and DHL debated delivery as a competitive advantage. PostNord began by explaining why they recently have introduced Saturday delivery when DPD has offered it in Britain for many years.

The four carriers and debate moderator on stage at the Nordic Delivery Conference 2015 at the Tivoli Hotel & Congress Center in Copenhagen. From left, it is Journalist Mads Steffensen, Commercial Director at Bring Johan Holgersson, Head of Logistics & E-commerce at PostNord Carsten Dalbo, CEO at DPD UK Dwain McDonald and Managing Director at DHL Parcel Nordic & UK Morten Villberg.

“We follow the consumers’ demands, and Saturday delivery has not been requested before. We are therefore launching it now, ” Carsten Dalbo, Head of Logistics & E-commerce at PostNord, explains.

Commercial Director at Bring, Johan Holgersson, agrees that there is a difference between the UK and Nordic market. He believes that a current consumer revolution in the Nordics is forcing carriers to innovate. That is why more consumer-friendly delivery services are being introduced in the Nordics now.

The Amazon effect hits the Nordics
The consumer revolution is associated with e-commerce giants like Amazon and Alibaba entering the Nordic market. They have high standards in delivery services and large shipping volumes that can get any carrier to align.

“Amazon puts pressure on the United States and Britain. Therefore, they have long been ahead of the Nordic countries with regard to delivery services. But I think all this will change now, ” Dwain McDonald, CEO at DPD UK, says. DPD also offers delivery on Sundays for private addresses throughout the UK.

The Amazon effect is not the only thing that can threaten carriers. The number of UBER inspired delivery services, such as Danish TrunkBird and Norwegian Nimber who rethinks the entire delivery concept, are on the increase.

UBER is not a threat
On stage, there are different opinions on how TrunkBird and Nimber affect carriers. While Carsten Dalbo do not see them as a threat, Johan Holgersson are more open to the opportunities that the new delivery concepts contain and points out that they also are pushing carriers to innovate.

Morten Villberg, Managing Director of DHL, is not denying that DHL one day will take part in the social delivery platform that the new delivery concepts are bringing.

Johan Holgersson follows up:
“The most important thing is to give consumers freedom of choice in their delivery options. ”

Facts:

500 guests and 30 exhibitors participated in the Nordic Delivery Conference 2015, which focused on delivery as a competitive advantage. Read more about the conference at here!
DPD is an international carrier, and is one of the leading carriers in the UK.
DPD UK is known for the delivery service DPD Predict that promises delivery within a time interval of only one hour, with the possibility of redirection to another address until 15 minutes before delivery.
Bring is a carrier and logistics operator of Norwegian origin, and is the second largest carrier in the Nordics.
Bring is especially known for their many options for private deliveries.
PostNord AB is an aggregation of Danish Post Danmark A/S and Swedish Posten AB, and is a leading logistics company in the Nordics.
PostNord is still very strong in the Swedish and Danish postal field and has a great growth in parcel logistics.
DHL is represented in over 220 countries and is the world’s most international logistics company.
DHL is especially known for their global express shipping network.