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2018 Shipping Price Index revealed

27 Nov 2018

A study, conducted by Sellics, reveals the cost of express local shipping in 40 G20 and EU nations.

Amazon software platform, Sellics, has released a study revealing the price of sending a package via local express shipping around the globe. As shipping and the various costs involved are such vital aspects of any e-commerce business, the software platform decided to investigate if the cost of shipping differs hugely from country to country.

The results determine if there are some locations which have an advantage when it comes to their shipping infrastructure. This new data is the second component of a study released earlier this year, revealing the best cities around the world to launch an online business.

The research compares the cost of local express shipping in 40 countries (G20 nations plus EU countries*), looking at the price of shipping a standard package from the countries’ largest cities, in terms of population size.

The data looks at the prices from the world’s three biggest shipping companies, UPS, DHL and Fedex, as well as local shipping companies in each market. For the purpose of this study, a standard package is defined as 46cm (L), x 31.5cm (W) x 9.5cm (H) with a weight of 2kg.

The study uses ‘Express Shipping’ defined as within 1-2 business days or less in all cases, assuming that an e-commerce business would want to stay competitive with their customers who are used to fast, often next-day delivery. The final table ranks each country by the least to most expensive to ship a standard package.

The final results table below reveals the average delivery costs and the % deviation between the worldwide average. A positive percentage indicates that the cost is more expensive, while a negative deviation shows that the cost is less expensive than the average.

Rank	Country	Average Delivery Cost by Local Express Shipping, USD	% Deviation of Local Shipping Costs Compared to World Average
1	Romania	3.65	-71.96%
2	Indonesia	3.87	-70.25%
3	Bulgaria	3.88	-70.18%
4	Turkey	4.44	-65.91%
5	China	4.76	-63.38%
6	Austria	4.79	-63.17%
7	Latvia	5.6	-56.94%
8	South Korea	5.79	-55.49%
9	Cyprus	5.88	-54.84%
10	Hungary	5.99	-53.97%
11	Czech Republic	6.23	-52.08%
12	Belgium	6.28	-51.77%
13	Croatia	6.9	-46.94%
14	Slovakia	7.02	-46.07%
15	Japan	7.51	-42.31%
16	Russia	8.75	-32.71%
17	Switzerland	8.96	-31.13%
18	South Africa	8.97	-31.06%
19	Lithuania	9.99	-23.18%
20	Portugal	10.21	-21.51%
21	Mexico	10.24	-21.33%
22	Estonia	10.57	-18.79%
23	Spain	10.77	-17.21%
24	Poland	10.87	-16.48%
25	Slovenia	11.69	-10.11%
26	Malta	13.12	0.85%
27	Sweden	13.47	3.53%
28	Greece	13.67	5.06%
29	Canada	13.95	7.23%
30	Italy	14.72	13.13%
31	Denmark	16.83	29.33%
32	Finland	18.14	39.44%
33	Ireland	20.42	56.98%
34	United Kingdom	21.78	67.41%
35	Saudi Arabia	22.66	74.18%
36	Germany	23.85	83.29%
37	Australia	26.4	102.89%
38	France	26.5	103.72%
39	Netherlands	27.9	114.42%
40	United States	63.2	385.78%

The following table reveals the local cost of shipping per 1,000 km, for a different comparison:

#	Country	Destination to Destination	Distance (in km)	Cost per 1,000 km, Next Day Delivery by Local Post, USD
1	China	Shanghai to Beijing	1071.1	4.45
2	Indonesia	Jakarta to Surabaya	666	5.81
3	South Africa	Cape Town to Durban	1270.7	7.06
4	Romania	Bucharest to Cluj-Napoca	323.7	11.27
5	Turkey	Istanbul to Ankara	321.4	13.8
6	Russia	Moscow to St. Petersburg	634.1	13.81
7	United States	New York City to Los Angeles	3936.9	16.05
8	South Korea	Seoul to Busan	323	17.93
9	Spain	Madrid to Barcelona	505.1	21.32
10	Mexico	Mexico City to Guadalajara	461.8	22.16
11	Slovakia	Bratislava to Košice	312.7	22.44
12	Saudi Arabia	Riyadh to Jeddah	847	26.75
13	Croatia	Zagreb to Split	256.8	26.88
14	Canada	Toronto to Montreal	506	27.57
15	Bulgaria	Sofia to Plovdiv	134.4	28.86
16	Latvia	Riga to Daugavpils	191.2	29.3
17	Hungary	Budapest to Debrecen	195.2	30.68
18	Italy	Rome to Milan	477	30.86
19	Austria	Vienna to Graz	144.8	33.09
20	Czech Republic	Prague to Brno	186.6	33.41
21	Sweden	Stockholm to Gothenburg	396.8	33.95
22	Australia	Sydney to Melbourne	713.4	37
23	Portugal	Lisbon to Porto	275.3	37.09
24	Switzerland	Zurich to Geneva	224.1	39.98
25	France	Paris to Marseille	660.6	40.12
26	Poland	Warsaw to Kraków	252	43.12
27	Greece	Athens to Thessaloniki	303.1	45.1
28	Estonia	Tallinn to Tartu	163.6	64.58
29	United Kingdom	London to Manchester	262.4	83
30	Ireland	Dublin to Cork	219	93.26
31	Germany	Berlin to Hamburg	255.6	93.29
32	Cyprus	Nicosia to Limassol	60.4	97.28
33	Denmark	Copenhagen to Aarhus	156.3	107.65
34	Lithuania	Vilnius to Kaunas	91.9	108.76
35	Slovenia	Ljubljana to Maribor	104	112.45
36	Belgium	Brussels to Antwerp	42.7	146.96
37	Japan	Tokyo to Yokohama	30.6	245.28
38	Netherlands	Amsterdam to Rotterdam	57.8	482.64
39	Finland	Helsinki to Espoo	16.1	1126.79
40	Malta	Birkirkara to Qormi	2.1	6248.11

“A decade or so ago, consumers could choose between free or fast shipping. Nowadays, large companies have the shipping infrastructure to combine these two elements. Therefore, if businesses want to stand a chance at success, then they need to consider how the location of their venture might have an impact on the kinds of shipping charges they could incur.” says Franz Jordan, CEO at Sellics.

“This data shows that shipping prices vary massively around the world, giving some nations advantages over others. For example, local shipping in the United States is exponentially more expensive than the majority of other European and G20 countries analysed.” Jordan concludes.