At the end of February, the industry association Transportföretagen released a new edition of the Package Index, which provides statistics on e-commerce deliveries in Sweden in terms of volume, growth, and trends. The Paketindex for Q4 2024 shows that the number of e-commerce packages shipped to consumers increased by 5.4 percent compared to the same period last year. Camilla Frisk, Marketing Manager at Descartes, comments on the results here.
While e-commerce sales began to show positive growth in 2024, package volume continued to increase. During the full year 2024, 213.8 million packages were shipped from e-retailers to private individuals in Sweden, of which 211.4 million were e-commerce packages weighing up to 20 kg and 2.4 million were larger shipments weighing over 20 kg and up to 100 kg. The total parcel volume (e-commerce parcels and larger shipments) grew by 8.3 percent during the year. International packages were the growth driver of the year, increasing by 25.0 percent, while domestic packages grew by 4.7 percent. This follows the strong growth figures seen the previous year, which gained momentum after the Chinese low-cost giant Temu established itself in Sweden during the summer of 2023.
– The proportion of packages ordered from outside Sweden’s borders continues to rise, and China remains the most common country from which goods are ordered. “Transportation and logistics companies need to closely monitor what this will mean in terms of delivery times, documentation, and inventory management. It will also be interesting to track the environmental impact of this trend,” says Camilla Frisk.
According to the Package Index for the fourth quarter of 2024, 62.3 million packages were shipped from e-retailers to private individuals in Sweden during the fourth quarter of the year, of which 0.8 million were larger shipments and the remainder consisted of e-commerce packages weighing up to 20 kg. The share of packages delivered to a pickup location accounted for 42 percent of deliveries, while home delivery also accounted for 42 percent and package lockers for 16 percent. During Black Week and Cyber Week 2024, 19.5 million e-commerce packages were shipped, which was 2 million more than the previous year.
– The electrification of freight transport is crucial to reducing the climate impact of transportation. The share of newly registered light-duty trucks that are electric or plug-in hybrids has been steadily increasing, which is a positive trend for both the environment and the transportation sector. It is important that we continue to invest in fossil-free transportation to meet the growing demand in e-commerce.
The Parcel Index was developed by Transportföretagen in collaboration with HUI Research. The index is based on data from DHL, UPS, Postnord, DB Schenker, Best, Airmee, Bring, Early Bird, and ICA Paket, as well as estimates of Instabox and Budbee’s volumes.
