LONDON, May 17 (Xinhua) -- British courier and express delivery market continued to surge in 2018 as online shopping boomed, according to figures released Friday by Mintel, a London-based market research firm.
Data showed that the courier and express delivery market across Britain increased by 12 percent in 2018, compared with the previous year, hitting 12.6 billion British pounds (about 16 billion U.S. dollar).
In total, Britons sent 3.65 billion packages, up from 3.2 billion in 2017.
Mintel predicted that the market for courier and express delivery would continue to boom over the next five years, with volumes expected to maintain a double-digit annual growth.
Meanwhile, statistics showed that online retailing in Britain was valued at an estimated 67.6 billion pounds (86.5 billion dollars) in 2018.
Marco Amasanti, retail analyst at Mintel, said "the courier and express delivery market is booming, much of which is underpinned by surging online retail sales."
"Looking forward, rising demand for delivery subscriptions brings added pressures; particularly the growing amount of returns, which require extra processing, storage and logistics," Amasanti said.
"However, for those who remain in the market, the future looks bright. Major players should further consolidate, given continued value and volume growth; both of which show little sign of abating as online retail appears far from reaching its ceiling," Amasanti added.
