Online shopping remained the driving force of the courier service market in Bulgaria in 2022. According to data of postal operators, the revenues from parcel deliveries generated by e-commerce increased by nearly 23% year on year. The European Ecommerce Report 2022 shows that e-commerce accounted for 2.14% of Bulgaria's gross domestic product, or 1.64 billion euro. The revenues of the top 20 courier companies totaled 1.175 billion levs (600 million euro in 2022, with half of the amount generated by market leaders Econt and Speedy.
New business projects and services were also looking for unoccupied niches. In 2022 Sameday (easybox) entered the market of automatic lockers through Delivery Solutions, a company backed by the owner of Romanian online giant eMAG. In just a few months it deployed delivery lockers at 200 locations - more than those of competitors Econt, Speedy and Boxnow combined. The company's ambitions are to rank among the top three couriers in Bulgaria within five years.
The market in numbers
According to a report of Bulgaria's Communications Regulation Commission (CRC), the postal market's value amounted to 776.2 million levs in 2022, up by 13.7% year on year. The revenues were generated mainly by non-universal services, i.e. courier parcels, hybrid mail, money transfers and postal advertising (744.5 million levs). Non-universal services were also the reason for growth in 2022, rising by 15%, while the revenues from universal services continued to decline, falling by 12%. At the same time there was an increase in courier parcel prices by an average of 10.8%, according to data of the National Statistical Institute.
While the overall volume increased in terms of revenue, the number of parcels decreased by 6.7% for the entire market, with a small decline also seen in courier services (-1.2%). The decrease was largely due to supply chain issues; high inflation also impacted consumer behavior.
The usual suspects
Ruse-based Econt Express remained the market leader in 2022 with a share of 38.4% in non-universal services. Speedy followed closely with 34.6%. Both companies increased their market shares: by 0.5% and 2%, respectively.Econt reported 14.8% growth in revenue to 309.5 million levs, profit amounted to 29.9 million levs. According to its annual report, the company operated with 704 offices (including 120 mobile ones) and 38 automated post offices. A total of 8.6 million shipments were processed in 2022, up by 37.74% year on year.
Speedy's revenues reached 274.5 million levs in 2022, growing by more than 21% on the preceding year. Profit amounted to 41 million levs. According to its annual report, the company processed 42.7 million shipments, served by 512 offices and 85 automated post offices. The long-term goal is "the integration of the courier market at a regional level" through deliveries to and from Romania and Greece, which was the fastest-growing segment for the company in 2022.
The rest in top 5
State-owned Bulgarian Post, which failed to position itself in the Bulgarian courier service market, ranked third with revenues of 206.5 million levs, down by 12.6% year on year. Despite the state subsidies it received, the company recorded a loss of 66.6 million levs.
DHL's local division, DHL Express Bulgaria, occupied the fourth position. In 2022 it generated 143.3 million levs of revenue, an increase of over 19%. Its profit was just over 4 million levs. According to the company's report, the good results were due to "increased number of active clients (mostly from online commerce) and penetration of new market segments".
The fifth position was held by the Bulgarian branch of Australia-based TNT. In April 2022 the ownership of the Bulgarian company went to Netherlands-based FedEx Express, following the acquisition of TNT Express by U.S. giant FedEx in 2016. TNT's revenues in Bulgaria declined by 13.9% to 41.8 million levs in 2022, but the company booked a 1.7 million levs profit.
Growing in Ruse
The city of Ruse is also home to one of the fastest growing companies in the sector, InOut Trade, which operates under the euShipments brand and acts as an integrator of courier services. In 2022 it climbed seven positions to the ninth place in the ranking, as its revenue increased by 74.4% to 15.4 million levs and profit came in at 2.4 million levs. Sole owner of InOut Trade is EuShipments.com, which in turn is owned by the Dimitrovs Laura and Svetlozar.
According to preliminary data provided by the company to the Capital Weekly, growth in 2023 was even stronger (83.1%), with revenue reaching 14.1 million euro. After EuShipments.com acquired majority stakes in two foreign peers in 2022, Croatia's Pick&Pack and Romania's Helpship, the group's consolidated revenue surged to 20.1 million euro. Growth in 2023 was due to the increase in processed deliveries (nearly 6 million, compared to 1.8 million in 2022). The number of employees nearly tripled from 57 to 150 last year.
Online shopping remained the driving force of the courier service market in Bulgaria in 2022. According to data of postal operators, the revenues from parcel deliveries generated by e-commerce increased by nearly 23% year on year. The European Ecommerce Report 2022 shows that e-commerce accounted for 2.14% of Bulgaria's gross domestic product, or 1.64 billion euro. The revenues of the top 20 courier companies totaled 1.175 billion levs (600 million euro in 2022, with half of the amount generated by market leaders Econt and Speedy.
New business projects and services were also looking for unoccupied niches. In 2022 Sameday (easybox) entered the market of automatic lockers through Delivery Solutions, a company backed by the owner of Romanian online giant eMAG. In just a few months it deployed delivery lockers at 200 locations - more than those of competitors Econt, Speedy and Boxnow combined. The company's ambitions are to rank among the top three couriers in Bulgaria within five years.
