Summary

The Europe Sortation Systems Market is expected to grow by a CAGR of 4.21% over the forecast period (2021-2026). The COVID-19 pandemic prompted end-user industries to adopt more aggressive contactless options. The pandemic demonstrated the robustness of automated solutions compared to traditional crewed operations. End users adapt to the changing business landscape and lead to a highly rapid acceleration of remote capabilities and digitalization of operations.

Key Highlights
Online sales in the region skyrocketed in 2020 and also in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are expected to remain high this year even as vaccines roll out, demonstrating a long-term shift in consumer behavior. For handling the growing volume of shipments, many distribution centers and warehouses are using automated sortation systems to meet the demand.
Enhanced ability to customize automated solutions according to specific business requirements has increased performance and capabilities, further lowered operational costs, and provided greater flexibility and scalability than manual operations.
Shipping companies, including UPS and DHL, have announced large investments in their European operations due to a surge in e-commerce shipments in the region. For instance, in September 2021, UPS expanded its coverage in Europe with the new sorting facility in Prague. According to UPS, the new facility is part of its recently completed multi-year, USD 2 billion European investment plan, which expanded the UPS network through Europe.
High initial investments in the manufacturing of sortation systems adversely affect the growth of the European Sortation Systems Market. Moreover, market players are required to manufacture systems that meet the standards set by various regulatory bodies. This limits further development of the market. However, with the growing tourism, these products at airport facilities for sorting luggage are expected to drive market growth over the next few years.
Further, increasing investments in warehouse automation in various sectors are expected to boost the market over the forecast period. The steady increase in labor costs coupled with constraints in workforce capacity has amplified the need for automation in sorting across the end-user industries.


Key Market Trends

Increasing e-commerce sales in Europe driving sortation systems in the region


Digital skills, including internet use, along with purchasing power, are all factors that positively impacted the adoption and growth of e-commerce in Europe. According to the European Commission report, during the COVID-19 pandemic, use of the internet increased at a normal growth rate, rounding off the year with 91% of the population accessing the internet in 2021.
Across Europe, e-commerce use is growing as the number and the share of e-shoppers increases every year. According to the Ecommerce Europe 2021 report, the largest jump in e-shoppers was seen in 2020, due in part to the Covid-19 pandemic pushing customers to online shopping.
All countries in Europe experienced an increase in B2C e-commerce turnover and E-GDP (the share of GDP made up by e-commerce). Growth rates of the turnover for Europe have remained consistent in the double-digits and are expected to continue an upward trend for the foreseeable future.
Western Europe has been dominant in share of e-commerce sales. According to the Ecommerce Europe 2021 report, Western Europe had the highest share of total European e-commerce turnover in 2020 with 64% market share due to wide internet penetration, i.e., 95%.
Global e-commerce players have been increasingly investing in the region's parcel sorting centers. For instance, in October 2021, Alibaba Group's logistics division Cainiao Network launched parcel sorting centers in Spain, Germany, France, and Italy to boost e-commerce operations for AliExpress consumers in the region.


United Kingdom is expected to hold the largest market share


​The United Kingdom's adoption rates of automation are expected to increase in the future as the region gets ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which was presented to the parliament in 2019. The fourth revolution is characterized by a fusion of technologies such as artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, etc.
In the last three to four years, more UK manufacturers have realized the benefits of reshoring operations, especially component manufacturing, a trend which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as by the signing of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU.
The post and parcel end-user industry in the country witnessed huge growth. For instance, in May 2021, Royal Mail reported customers splurging online during COVID-19 lockdowns helped profits more than double in 2020 as revenue from parcel deliveries outpaced letters for the first time for the company.
Furthermore, post and parcel companies are increasingly investing in developing new infrastructure. For instance, in January 2021, An Post, a state-owned postal services company, announced a plan to invest more than EUR 100 million in new infrastructure over the next three years to cope with the high rise in parcel deliveries driven by online shopping in the pandemic.
In Western Europe, the United Kingdom is the second-largest consumer market. Despite a low level of economic growth, similar to levels in other advanced economies, household discretionary purchasing power is above average for the country and is forecast to increase. A highly developed financial services market offers easy access to consumer credit in the country as well as consumers in the country are comfortable making payments with bank cards boosting e-commerce growth.


Competitive Landscape

The European Sortation Systems Market is fragmented and highly competitive. Product launches, high expense on research and development, partnerships and acquisitions, etc., are the prime growth strategies adopted by the companies to sustain the intense competition. Some of the recent developments in the market are -


August 2021 - Vanderlande partnered with Bleckmann, a logistic service provider, to test its latest warehousing innovation, which targets to improve the manual sortation of batch-picked items to orders. This intuitive system can also reduce training time as well as increase operator performance.
March 2021 - Fives provided DHL Express Italy with a new parcel handling and sorting solution. In March 2021, DHL Express Italy inaugurated the new Hub, Gateway, and Service Center at the Milan Malpensa Airport in northern Italy. As a partner of DHL Express Italy, Fives designed the solution based on proprietary technologies to meet customers’ requirements. DHL Express Italy selected Fives’ cross belt technology due to its high speed and accuracy.


Additional Benefits:

The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
3 months of analyst support

ページTOPに戻る

Table of Contents