Overview
Although made up of four separate and distinct countries , there are sufficient similarities to treat Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden as a collective e-retail market from a logistics perspective. The Nordics present some interesting logistics issues for retailers wishing to reach all of its consumers with a total population of approximately 26 million spread over an area of 120,000 sq km, including hundreds of islands. However most of the population is concentrated in the south and in coastal areas.
Copenhagen Airport is the largest airport for passenger, cargo and express companies in the Nordics. The airport also acts as a major cargo hub for global logistics providers such as DHL, Fedex, Kuehne & Nagel and PostNord.
61% of people prefer to pick-up their items, in lieu of home delivery.
Infrastructure
Global carriers
There are a number of global carriers able to provide collection, distribution and delivery into the Nordics (using their own operations or local partners). The main ones are:
UPS – Offers a range of services and delivery times to the Nordics subject to country of origin and the specific destination
- UPS Express Plus – 1 to 2 business days delivery by 09:00
- UPS Express – 1 to 2 business days delivery by 12:00 noon
- The example service times above are from the UK.
- UPS Express Saver – 1 to 2 business days delivery by end of day
- UPS Standard – 3 to 5 business days delivery during the day
Fed Ex – Offers two main services to the Nordics with delivery times subject to country of origin and the specific destination:
- International Priority – 1 to 3 business days
- International Economy – 2 to 5 days
DHL – Offers one main service option, namely – Export Express Worldwide – guaranteed delivery by the end of the next possible working day. As an example, from the UK to the Nordics this will typically be the next working day subject to the exact delivery address.
TNT – Offers a range of international services to the Nordics starting from next day by 09:00 subject to country of origin and the specific destination. As an example, from the UK:
- 09:00 Express – Denmark
- 10:00 Express – Denmark and Sweden
- 12:00 Express – Norway and Sweden
- Express – Next day – all countries
- TNT does not offer its lower cost day-defined Economy Express service from the UK to the Nordics
DPD – DPD is particularly of note in the Nordic market because PostNord (the postal service provider for Sweden and Denmark) is a strategic partner and its delivery partner in all four countries. It offers a range of service options to the Nordics with the examples below showing transit times from the UK in business days:
In respect of e-retail deliveries perhaps the two most interesting services are:
- DPD Classic which includes DPD Predict, a pre- delivery advice notification which is a service feature generally welcomed by online shoppers
- DPD Direct which is DPD’s own branded direct access solution (see section – Direct access) offering lower cost consignment + kilo rate pricing, customs clearance, tracking and a returns service for unwanted items.[6]