A growing market
The postal market has undergone numerous technical and economic changes:
- The turnover of the postal market grew by 4,7% in 2019;
- This rate even increases at around 10,6% for the parcel and express segment;
- The parcel and express segment is still growing: per capita, per capita, a parcel was sent or an express service was used every 16 days in 2019;
Further stimulate e-commerce
The BIPT has tasked WIK Consult GmbH with carrying out a study on the postal aspects of e-commerce in Belgium.
In the course of 2022 various stakeholders were interviewed by WIK by way of public inquiries, quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews.
The study offers new insights into the postal aspects of the Belgian e-commerce market. The study makes 6 recommendations.
Always more transparency
In 2017, within the framework of its mission to foster competition, BIPT published a website enabling the geolocation of the postal service points of operators that are active in Belgium: postalpoint.be.
In 2019, BIPT published online a series of questions and answers regarding the most frequent issues concerning the delivery of parcels, mentioning whom to turn to in case of problems.
Tariff comparison tool for 2 kg parcels in Belgium and Europe
The BIPT webtool www.postalpoint.be, where users can look up all postal points, has been completed with a new tool to compare the tariffs of basic postal parcels (2 kg). The tool contains all information about the postal parcel tariffs for shipments in Belgium and the rest of the EU.
For every destination, either in Belgium or in another EU Member State, you can use this tool to check which operators provide their services at that location. Next all single-piece tariffs (without volume discounts) for that destination are listed and some useful information is added. That extra information includes details about the minimum and maximum size and weight among other things. It may indeed occur that the same tariff also applies to parcels weighing more than 2 kg. In addition information is given about the estimated delivery time and whether a standard insurance is included, for instance. Also, any cheaper alternatives, such as delivery in a postal shop, post office or parcel locker instead of home delivery are given.