By Our Reporter
In line with Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) projected economic growth of 4.9% this year, which is double the projection for advanced economies (2.4%) DHL SSA expects 2015 to be a year of growth for the logistics industry on the African continent, largely driven by increased consumer demand and the rapidly developing e-commerce industry.
This is according to Charles Brewer, Managing Director of DHL Express SSA, who was commenting against the backdrop of Deutsche Post DHL Group’s full year results released in March. DPDHL Group ended 2014 with revenues of EUR 56.6 billion, up 3.1% compared to 2013. He says that the company’s increased focus on e-commerce and emerging markets, including Africa, has led the group to achieve growth in both volume and revenue in 2014.
A new report by yStats.com2 revealed that despite Africa lagging behind other regions when it comes to the development of online infrastructure, business-to-consumer (B2C) sales will grow to double-digit numbers in EUR billions in the next three years.
Brewer says that as such, a key focus for DHL Express Sub Saharan Africa in 2015 is to further strengthen connectivity, both within the continent and globally. He says that this will be crucial to meeting the growing e-commerce market on the continent, and assist in driving further growth.
“There is a growing B2C e-commerce market in Africa due to the development and accessibility of technology on the continent, so it is no longer just the larger corporations that need to make use of logistics and delivery services, but individual consumers and small businesses too. Our goal is to develop the necessary infrastructure in Africa to make the global market more accessible. Our aggressive expansion strategy has seen us grow our retail presence from 300 outlets to over 3,800 outlets in just over 3 years,
