OREANDA-NEWS. DHL together with the Finnish postal operator Posti as well as Bring a subsidiary of Posten Norge, the Norwegian postal operator, join forces and jointly offer a dedicated B2C infrastructure for parcel deliveries across Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic states. The non-exclusive cooperation that will come into effect on April 1st further extends DHL Parcel's network for cross-border e-commerce by seven countries. The expansion is in line with DHL's strategy to develop the e-commerce market in Europe and to offer its customers a well-developed infrastructure. In just two years, DHL Parcel has increased its network footprint to now 16 of the most important European e-commerce markets and offers online retailers a harmonized network with standardized services.

"Many of our customers today already ship items to the countries in northern Europe. Together with our local partners, we want to help them grow their business and develop the e-commerce market in these countries as best as possible," explains Juergen Gerdes, CEO Post - eCommerce - Parcel at Deutsche Post DHL Group. "At the outset we will offer the 22 million online shoppers in northern Europe convenient access to the largest parcel shop network in this area."

By means of the cooperation with the partners, DHL Parcel is aiming to exploit the strong cross-border online shopping trend in northern Europe as well as the very high e-commerce potential in general. According to a recent EU Commission report, more than 56 percent of all inhabitants have ordered something at least once in a non-domestic online shop. It is also expected that today's e-commerce volume in the Nordics and Baltics, approximately 22.8bn Euro, will grow by 6 percent per annum until 2020. In the Nordics and Baltics, people are particularly open to online retailing and are above-average users of this service as their expenditures per person significantly exceed the European average.

6,500 parcel shops and parcel stations by the end of 2016

The delivery network in Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltics will be the largest operated in these markets and includes 6,500 parcel shops and parcel stations by the end of 2016. Unlike in other European markets, it is not common for parcels to be delivered to the customers' doorstep in these countries. The dense network will thus increase convenience for consumers. Within the framework of the agreement DHL Parcel and the partners defined DHL Parcel Connect as the service standard for B2C cross-border shipments. This means that online retailers shipping to and from these countries can rely on the already high and now further improved quality they are used to from DHL Parcel. In fact, Saturday delivery, standardized processes and labels for shipping and returns will allow for faster transit times in the future.

"Reliability and flexibility in the area of logistics are crucial factors for success in online retailing," adds Gerdes. "Together with our partners we provide the infrastructure and service levels that serve as the foundation for successful online retailing. By expanding our network and offering a consistent high-quality product, we are creating the foundation for a truly pan-European e-commerce landscape and are helping our customers to tap into new markets and grow their business."

In addition to the new service standard and Saturday delivery, the partners will establish a system that notifies recipients about the likely arrival time of their desired item. There will also be customer friendly return solutions across all European markets DHL Parcel operates in, regardless of whether the parcel is sent from Poland, Belgium or Sweden, for example.

After adding the Benelux countries, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Sweden, France and now Denmark, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, DHL Parcel is present in 16 European countries including their home market Germany. In line with Deutsche Post DHL Group's Strategy 2020, DHL Parcel will continuously examine any market in Europe that is attractive and relevant to further expand business activities in Europe.