Home delivery specialist Hermes has reported a 4.7 per cent rise in sales to 1.8bn euros for 2011. The group, which is part of the Otto Group, said Hermes UK has achieved record figures for sales and shipment volumes.
Hanjo Schneider, CEO of Hermes Europe and member of the executive board services at the Otto Group, said: “Our strategy of establishing Hermes as a worldwide service partner for the retail industry has come up trumps. An increasing number of international retailers are making use of our individual service modules or are combining them, such as procurement and transport. In the future, we are looking to become more involved in e-tailing – by also expanding on our own web-enabling activities. Ultimately, it is highly likely that clients who we can encourage to use the web as a sales channel, will also be calling on Hermes for other logistics and retail-related services.
Hermes parcel services shipped around 430 million items in 2011, 389 million of which were parcels. This represents an increase of five per cent on the volume of 371 million parcels shipped in 2010. Roughly 65 per cent of the parcel volumes were attributable to non-Otto Group clients. In Germany, seven of the top ten distant sellers use Hermes to deliver their goods to customers’ homes.
“In 2012, we will be building on and internationalising our digital services significantly, always with an eye on emerging markets in BRIC countries. The online offerings of many retailers, for example those in Brazil, provide enormous potential that we are looking to tap, bringing in our experience in the clothing and consumer goods segments,” said Schneider.