GDANSK - Polish parcel locker firm InPost is targeting growth above the expected 5-10% increase in e-commerce parcel volumes in Poland in 2023, chief executive Rafal Brzoska was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
"In 2023, the growth of the e-commerce market in Poland in quantitative terms may slow down to...5 to 10 percent," Brzoska told Polish state-run news agency PAP.
"The InPost Group wants to grow markedly above the market in all the countries in which it is active," he added.
He estimated market volume in Poland, the company's biggest market where it owns nearly 20,000 automated parcel machines (APMs), increased last year by 15-17%.
InPost's capital expenditure in 2023 will not exceed last year's level of about 1.2 billion zlotys ($276.39 million), Brzoska told PAP, citing macroeconomic uncertainty.
The group, which currently owns more than 8,600 APMs in other countries, wants to increase the number in the UK to 7,500-8,000 by the end of the year from around 5,000 currently, and in France to 6,000 from around 2,400 now.
"Five years ago in Poland we had 3,500 machines and soon we will have 20,000. We plan for business in the UK to be profitable in 2023," said the CEO
Further expansion into new markets, such as Germany, could take place once the company reaches 15,000 APMs in both France and Great Britain, he added.
InPost also plans to test its own payment service at selected stores in Poland at the end of the first quarter.
"If we manage to increase the (rate of sales) conversion, which I'm convinced of, this product and project will be our biggest innovation at InPost since the introduction of deliveries via parcel machines."
The company operates in Poland, the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Benelux.
($1 = 4.3417 zlotys)
