Comparison of the 5 largest delivery companies in Hungary
We get a lot of questions from you about which courier service you should choose for a domestic webshop to ship your products. Since there is currently no material on the Internet that objectively compares the most popular courier companies, we are launching a series of articles on this topic that will help you compare shipping companies and select the one that best fits your business profile.
ILogistic provides a full range of logistics services to web store owners, including storage, packaging and shipping of products. For years, our company has been delivering hundreds of parcels daily in cooperation with the largest domestic and foreign courier companies. We’ve already partnered with all of the companies mentioned in this article, and are currently working with more, so we can share a wealth of our experiences with you. Thanks to the ongoing close cooperation dating back several years, we’ve gained insight into their everyday workings and know all their strengths and weaknesses.
This forms the basis by which we’ve assembled the most crucial info about the 5 largest domestic delivery companies: DPD, Sprinter, MPL, Express One and GLS.
DPD
DPD is a German-owned multinational company currently operating in 38 countries. The company has 60,000 members and delivers 4 million packages a day. DPD started in Hungary during 2003 as a joint venture of GeoPost and Lagermax Group, but since 2005 it has been owned exclusively by GeoPost.
DPD is one of the largest courier companies in Hungary, with many Hungarian webshops working with them. They offer next day delivery or give you a 60 minute timeframe as to when the package arrives so the buyer can prepare for pickup. While the other courier companies mentioned in this article will give you a timeframe as to when the courier will arrive, this is typically a multi-hour or all-day interval for most companies.
An additional feature is that the customer can change this interval to the time of their choice, and also track online exactly how many stops the courier has until he arrives to you.
In summary, DPD’s extremely user-friendly parcel tracking services provide great convenience to their customers, not to mention the increase in success rate of deliveries.
Further increasement of the number of successful deliveries is due to the fact that even if the parcel fails to be delivered at first, they will give you two more attempts completely free of charge.
Another benefit of DPD is their so-called Express service, where they undertake to ship the very next day until 10 am.
It is true that DPD has been the subject of much criticism from the client side over the last year. In particular, they received negative feedback on the next day delivery of packages, as many of their customers experienced regular delays in delivering their products. In 2018, the number of slippages increased during the Christmas period, with packages arriving at speeds of more than a week instead of next day delivery.
Due to the slippages at the end of 2018, many customers have turned away from DPD. Since then, DPD has responded to most of the negative feedback and has, for example, set up a dedicated department to investigate missing packages. Since then, the number of lost shipments has decreased and they are also striving to provide good quality service.
Who would we recommend it for?
Based on their pricing strategy, we recommend DPD to webshops that send a large number of cash on delivery, as DPD currently offers the most favorable cash handling fees on the market.
Additionally, DPD is ideal for webshops who typically ship heavy packages of around 40kg. DPD currently offers the best prices for large bulk shipments on the market, and they are the only company on the market where packages up to 50kg are treated as standard parcels at no extra charge. With other service providers, this limit is set to a maximum of 40 kg or in some cases, only 31.5 kg.
As such, based on the above-mentioned benefits, DPD is primarily recommended for webshops that typically post a lot of cash on delivery, have heavier packages on a regular basis, and would like to increase their rate of successful delivery.
Sprinter
Sprinter Courier Service Ltd. is a Hungarian-owned courier service and since 1997 it has been a dominant player in the market amongst small package courier companies. Market leaders and renowned webshops from various industries have also chosen them as strategic partners. The sole owner of Sprinter Courier Service Ltd. is Lapker Zrt. It is interesting to note that Sprinter’s PPP (Pick Pack Point) service was the first transfer point solution on the Hungarian market, and for 10 years it has been one of the most popular parcel delivery service in the circle of webshop owners.
Sprinter might be a good choice if you have a start-up webshop or just sell a small amount daily. Because their pricing strategy is designed to ensure that even minimal-volume webshops are able to obtain favorable shipping and cash-on-delivery charges for both lighter and heavier shipments. Their price structure is simple and transparent.
Who would we recommend it for?
Sprinter may be a good choice for webshop owners who often send multiple packages to the same address, as Sprinter bills the shipping cost of only one shipment. For example, if you send 10 packages of 4 kg to one address, you only have to pay the cost of a single package of 40 kg, therefore saving on shipping.
Another benefit of Sprinter is that, like DPD, they also offer favorable cash handling fees.
Sprinter’s other strength is its excellent quality in the delivery of fragile goods. They do not load fragile parcels on a conveyor belt but manually sort them, taking care of the integrity of the goods. Thus, Sprinter’s service can be particularly beneficial for webshop owners who sell beverages, glass sauces, or other fragile products.
All in all, we recommend Sprinter’s services to webshop owners who ship less than 5 packages on average per day, but at least half of those packages are delivered as cash on delivery.
MPL
MPL, a subsidiary of Magyar Posta (Hungarian Post Office), has long been the largest parcel delivery service in Hungary, but in recent years it has been dethroned to second place by another carrier listed in the article. Many state-owned companies are involved in logistics, including the Hungarian Post. As a result, the company has a well-established infrastructure: MPL employs 30,000 people and operates 350 mobile mail lines and a fleet of 3,000 vehicles.
One of the great advantages of MPL is that they have the complete Hungarian postal network at their disposal to deliver parcels. Thus, if the customer does not receive the shipment for the first time, they will be notified by mail that they may pick up their parcel by the specified time or retry at the date specified in the notice. At MPL, the parcel will not be returned to the sender after the second delivery, but will instead be re-mailed and the recipient will be notified again as to how long it will be possible to personally pick the item up.
Other benefits of MPL include the ability to ship packages of many sizes and consistencies: mail, cardboard and even palletized packages.
Many people have had bad experiences with MPL, as the products were shipped with huge delays before 2017’s Christmas. For example, some packages did not arrive until February of 2018. However, MPL has learned from their mistake: they have further developed their warehouse system, are now expecting more work for the Christmas season and, moreover, are asking their clients to forecast their weekly turnover before the season. Since then, they have been serving their customers to the highest of standards and are paying close attention to ensuring that similar inconveniences do not occur again.
Who would we recommend it for?
MPL is a good choice for senders of constantly varying sizes, as MPL is suitable for mail, small, large, and palletized packages. This way, you don’t have to use multiple providers to fulfill all your needs.
Thus, we recommend MPL services primarily to webshop owners who are often faced with the issue of their customers not collecting their packages and the size of their packages is far ranging all the way from envelopes to fridges.
Express One
In the April of 2018 Trans-o-flex changed their name, now known as Express One, and has been present in the domestic market since 1997. In 2007, the Austrian Post and Merland Express jointly bought the company and now they ship more than 30,000 parcels with 450 operating couriers in Hungary.
It is worth knowing that the company used to work at extremely low prices, so they entered into a strong price competition with other competitors that they could not sustain after a while. As a result, the company changed its pricing strategy in 2018, leading to higher tariffs. However, with this price increase, Express One is still offering competitive prices in some segments.
While they are expensive in the small package market, we personally consider them the best provider for pallet shipping. We often use them for pallet shipping or for sending packages that exceed other providers’ maximum package sizes. They can deliver packages of up to 500kg / pallet.
One of Express One’s areas for improvement is customer service. Express One has recently received a number of negative customer service feedback. Their customers reported that their problems had not been answered after a week, and that some of their lost packages had not been found at all. We have also heard that in the case of a wrongly received package, the person did not receive the refund. Of course, it is up to everyone to decide whether to listen to the experience of others, but it is worth considering the above criticisms.
Who would we recommend it for?
Express One is primarily recommended for web shop owners who ship heavy or fragile products using pallet shipping. We mostly ship TVs, washing machines and refrigerators.
GLS
And now, we’re introducing a company that has overtaken MPL, the market leader, and its other competitors all while imposing drastic service improvements on the market: GLS.
Currently, GLS is the largest courier company on the Hungarian market, and they are also the fastest developing one too. GLS is a Dutch based company that ships packages in 41 European and 8 American states. Their success is largely due to the fact that they were the first to place great emphasis on the quality of their service and deliver packages with almost no errors.
The strength of GLS is in its small package delivery. They provide a very transparent, fast and high-quality service in this area. This is primarily since GLS is currently the most popular service provider for online stores and ecommerce. Based on the experience of the last 4 years, the number of incorrectly invoiced or lost packages at GLS is zero. They have never made a mistake since our cooperation. Our experience is that they are performing well this season, thanks to their billions of dollars invested each year to improve their service.
In addition to quality shipping, one of the major benefits of GLS is that it offers a significant volume discount to customers who send bulk shipments with them. These discounts are primarily available to webshop owners who ship more than 5 packages per day on average. GLS also handle cash on delivery orders professionally, sending accurate and clear reports on all deliveries so you can always count on total transparency.
The only downside to GLS is that it often offers start-up or lower-end webshops a much higher price than its competitors. However, there is a solution to this, which we will discuss shortly.
Who would we recommend it for?
We recommend the services of GLS specifically to webshop owners who need quality service, an appropriate courier, and clear, accurate billing, and whose shipments mostly weigh less than 5kg.
According to its pricing, the service provided by GLS can be especially beneficial for those who work with more than 5 packages per day during the off-season, i.e. they operate a higher-traffic webshop. As mentioned earlier, it is possible for lower-end webshop operators to benefit from GLS quality services at market-leading prices. How you may ask?
Well, mostly by using GLS services through a company that receives volume discounts and passes them on to their customers with minimal traffic. Such a company can be a groupage transport company, or a fulfillment company that takes over full logistics. Our customers often choose GLS through us.
Summary Table
|
DPD |
Sprinter |
MPL |
Express One |
GLS |
|
DPD |
Sprinter |
MPL |
Express One |
GLS |
Discounted Third Day Delivery |
No |
X |
X |
No |
No |
Discounted pricing in case of multiple packages sent to same address |
X |
X |
X |
X |
No |
Pack-Point Solution |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
Pallet Shipping |
No |
X |
X |
X |
No |
Bank Card Cash on Delivery |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
Free return shipping of unclaimed parcels to sender |
X |
Not Free |
Not Free |
X |
X |
Pick up and return to sender |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
Package Exchange Service |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
Specified Timeframe Delivery |
1-2 hour timeframe |
3 hour timeframe |
Min. 2 hours |
Min. 2 hours |
2 hour timeframe |
Upper weight limit of packages without surcharge |
50 kg |
40 kg |
40 kg |
31,5 kg |
40 kg |
Number of delivery attempts included in base pricing |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
Number of requestable delivery attempts as an additional service |
No |
No |
+1 |
No |
+1 |
Method of advanced notice |
Email |
Email |
SMS
Email |
Email |
No |
Notifications available as an additional service |
SMS |
SMS |
No |
SMS |
Email
SMS
Telephone |
Expected delivery timeframe as specified in the advanced notice |
1 hour |
Whole Day |
Whole Day |
2 hours |
3 hours |
Internet Tracking |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
Evaluation: Value of package insurance. |
520 Euros |
50.000 Ft |
50.000 Ft |
100.000 Ft |
50.000 Ft |
In the past, we have worked with all of the courier services mentioned in this article, and are still currently working together with certain services to capitalize on the aforementioned specific benefits of some. However, fast and reliable service is very important to us, and 90% of our small shipments below 5 kg are prepared and shipped with GLS. They’ve constantly provided us with the highest quality service, with fast deliveries, good prices, and little to no mistakes.
This quality service can be accessed by YOU, regardless of the size of your webshop and your package amount, as you will receive 30-40% volume discounts compared to regular market prices.
If you are interested in the offer and would like to finance your other logistics processes from the cost of your shipping costs, please contact us here.
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