ACS: The leader in express courier services with a 35% market share and new investments of 50 million euros

ACS, the express courier company, is set to make new investments reaching 50 million euros within the next five years. According to their business plan, additional investments of 15 million euros are forecasted, aiming to reach 1,000 smart lockers, and ACS also plans to invest in last-mile delivery. It's worth mentioning that the company currently operates in the locker market with 250 lockers.

At the same time, investments related to door-to-door delivery from the store have begun, where there are problems due to staff shortages. The aim is to deliver directly from the systems of the new sorting center to the final recipient and also to increase the capacity in the stores with an additional total investment of 20 million euros. Additionally, they are investing in electric vehicles with the goal to create a fleet of 200 cars within the next 4-5 years.

ACS opened the doors to its new sorting center yesterday, which has the capacity to manage 50,000 packages per hour. ACS began its business journey in 1981, while the first thoughts of creating a new sorting center came to light in 2006, albeit for a significantly larger facility compared to today's. The facilities created exceed 36,000 square meters, and this investment constitutes the largest in the sector. The center quadruples the sorting capacity and simultaneously reduces production time by more than 50%, while allowing optimal service routing for the last mile?

In the same building, a photovoltaic park with a capacity of 1 MW was created, which is estimated to provide about a 30% saving in energy consumption.

Fulfilling a fifteen-year strategic goal

The new sorting center has 90 loading ramps, which now serve the company’s transportation needs. Currently, ACS carries out 38 million shipments annually and 16 million post shipments per year. The new sorting center covers about 20% of the company's express courier needs on average, while it was created to fulfill the company's strategic planning for the next up to 15 years, supporting its plan and development.

The courier market

The courier market during the economic crisis since 2013 has been boosted by e-commerce, which took off much earlier in the rest of Europe, in 2009. Thus, while in Greece it was a sector that had a turnover of 200 million euros in 2013, today, due to e-commerce, it has exceeded 500 million euros. ACS has a turnover of just over 140 million euros, while its share in the Greek market is about 25%. Key competitors from local players are General Postal, Speedex, and ELTA Courier as well as international players, companies such as UPS and DHL. Already in the first semester of this year, the revenue was 72.6 million euros, a 9% increase compared to the first semester of 2022. This growth is mainly due to e-commerce.

Expectations for growth driven by e-commerce

For the next few years, the courier market - given that e-commerce penetration has made strides in Greece - is expected to record significant growth steps, although it lags significantly compared to countries that lead this sector, such as the United Kingdom, which is a leader in the field, and China.

ACS's goal for the next period is to schedule via courier, improving the final steps of the last mile and the delivery to the customer, giving time and space to the stores and facilitating their operation.

The annual growth of the company and e-commerce for the next five years is expected to be above 10%. ACS’s network currently includes 270 customer service stores across Greek territory.