Market
For many years DHL has been synonymous with
fast, reliable services around the world, and today
DHL is the number one logistics provider worldwide,
offering a wide range of cutting-edge
solutions through the whole logistical
supply chain that free customers
to concentrate on their core
competencies.
Globalization and liberalization
make the logistics sector one of the
fastest growing markets worldwide.
World Bank experts expect an
increase in the global trade volume of
7.5 percent for 2007 and 7.8 percent
for 2008, whilst the Hong Kong and
Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC)
expects an annual growth rate in
the global express market of 5 to
6 percent between 2006 and 2008.
This bank predicts an annual growth
of 4 to 6 percent in airfreight, 8 to
11 percent in sea freight and 8 to 10
percent in contract logistics. According
to the estimates of the research
institute “Global Insight”, 28 million
20-feet containers will be shipped from
Chinese ports alone in 2007, mostly
to destinations in the U.S. and Europe,
and numbers are rising.
DHL is amongst the global market leaders in
all segments of the express and logistics market
and excellently positioned to grow faster than its
competitors in terms of turnover and profits.
Achievements
Thanks to its competence in air, road/rail and
ocean transport, DHL is the world’s leading brand
for express and logistics services. DHL has 285,000
employees, more than 76,000 vehicles and more than
420 airplanes throughout the world. Each year around
1.5 billion DHL consignments arrive at almost 120,000
shipping destinations in more than 220 countries and
territories.
DHL’s unique market position is the result of
its consistent alignment as a one-stop-shop for
companies of every size. In the courier express parcel
sector, DHL is the market leader in core European,
Asian and emerging markets and in both air and ocean
freight, as in contract logistics, DHL is number one in
each of these markets – often a clear distance ahead
of its competitors.
The DHL Exel Supply Chain demonstrates
exemplary customer focus and professionalism: the
customer list for contract logistics comprises more
than 2,000 large and prominent companies in 40
countries, including three quarters of Europe’s Top 500
companies.
History
The name DHL was made up from the initials
of the three company founders, Adrian Dalsey, Larry
Hillblom and Robert Lynn.
These three founders had an ingenious idea:
they delivered ships´ papers personally by airplane
from San Francisco to Honolulu. This allowed a ship’s
cargo to start going through customs even before the
ship itself had actually arrived, saving ship operators
a fortune by substantially cutting down wasted days in
the port. This idea represented the birth of a whole
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new industry – international air-express service.
After that, things took off fast. In 1970, DHL
obtained a foothold on the US East Coast, expanded
into the Pacific Rim in 1971, and in 1974 established its
first European base in London. Since
1977, DHL has also had a presence
in the Middle East, and in 1978
DHL leased its first office space in
Germany. Realising early on that the
transfer of data via fax significantly
reduced the business potential of
classic document delivery, the year
1980 saw the addition of express
shipping of goods as a new service.
In 1983 DHL was the first
express services provider brave
enough to venture into the Eastern
block and it was DHL again that
was the first to enter the People´s
Republic of China in 1986.
One major strategic step
that improved the company´s
position amidst increasingly global
competition was the investment by
Lufthansa Cargo and Japan Airlines
in DHL International between the
years 1990 and 1992. This assured
the DHL network of long-term
access to the shipping services of
two of the leading airlines and their
infrastructure at major international airports.
The Deutsche Post World Net group has held
a stake in DHL since 1998 and the full acquisition of
this now worldwide market leader by the German
global player in 2003 represents a milestone in the
company´s history.
Product
The DHL brand consists of five strong service fields:
DHL Express, DHL Freight, DHL Global Forwarding,
DHL Exel Supply Chain, and DHL Global Mail.
DHL Express is globally present with same-day,
overnight and classic parcel services. Its network
includes fully automated trans-shipment centres, a high
performance IT infrastructure, 4,000 subsidiaries and
links to 120,000 destinations worldwide.
DHL Freight specialises in international and
domestic road and rail transportation for full or partial
loads within Europe. Qualified specialists integrate
innovative IT applications to develop custom-built
transport solutions for industry and retail.
As market leader for air and ocean freight, DHL
Global Forwarding offers many useful value-added
services, such as a house-to-house service, group
shipments and customs clearance. This DHL service
field is also heavily represented with regards to project
shipping and heavy cargo, with transport for industries
such as oil, gas, petrochemicals, electricity and mining.
DHL Exel Supply Chain takes over all complex,
global logistical tasks using custom-built solutions along
the entire supply chain. With regards to procurement
logistics and storage and sales logistics, the range
of products available also includes upstream and
downstream services such as packaging, co-packing,
price marking, billing and order processing.
Finally, DHL Global Mail is one of the world’s
leaders in the international mail business, with offices
and production facilities on four continents and direct
links with more than 200 countries. As well as its
cross-border mail business, in many countries DHL
Global Mail is increasingly focusing on domestic services,
expanding upon its mail related value-added services.
Recent Developments
The acquisition of the British contract logistics
company Exel in 2006 posed a huge challenge for the
DHL management with 111,000 employees in 135
countries needing to be integrated and under the
new brand area “Exel Supply Chain”, Exel activities
were bundled with DHL contract logistics activities.
Re-branding is finished and today DHL appears
in a uniform corporate design that is immediately
recognizable.
Apart from the visual aspect, questions of content
have been tackled to turn DHL into a global brand.
Published in 2006, the DHL Brand Book lays down the
common values of the global service provider, which is
made up of a wide range of companies with 285,000
people from all cultures, traditions, languages and
religions. At the core of the new brand philosophy are
the DHL employees; as brand ambassadors, they are
the face of the brand.
DHL wants to be first choice for its customers
at all times and that is why the strategic initiative First
Choice was started in 2006: It aims at systematically
optimizing all production and communication
processes to conform to the wishes of DHL
customers. First Choice will enable
DHL employees to continually
improve quality and productivity.
For many years, DHL has
provided logistics support for
humanitarian aid after natural
disasters. Based on this experience,
the company has set up two
DHL Disaster Response Teams in
Singapore and Florida and these
teams get active when requested by
the UN Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The specially trained DHL employees
organize and coordinate clearance
and transport of humanitarian aid to
the disaster areas.
them electronically. And just like the Internet, the DHL
“Outernet” is globally available with connections to and
from everywhere. A strong brand will help DHL to
extend its leading position in the global logistics market.
With their personal commitment and high motivation
the DHL employees are the most important brand
ambassadors – everywhere on this planet.
Promotion
DHL pays a great deal of
attention to advertising and
corporate image building with
the aim of promoting sales of its
services. In its last two regional
campaigns, DHL focused primarily
on product communication
for its international express
delivery service “TimeDefinite”,
secondarily promoting the DHL
brand. Campaigns took place in all
European countries and the media
plan involved a comprehensive
communication strategy ranging from billboards and
press advertisements through to an internet campaign
and direct mail.
In the campaign that took place in the media in
October 2006, DHL focused on communicating its
extensive transport network, which for guaranteed
delivery by either 9:00 or 12:00 covers the most
locations across Europe. The campaign headline “By
9:00. By 12:00. By DHL. Nothing stops us.” conveyed
the speed and reliability of DHL’s shipping services not
only in Europe, but worldwide.
The February 2007 campaign promoted service
provision to/from Asia, for which DHL, thanks to its
years of operation there and its superb knowledge
of the local environment, is a specialist in its field. This
campaign again focused on DHL’s shipping services
with pre-defined
delivery by 9:00 or
by 12:00. The creative
treatment made use
of Asian motifs and
a symbol “connecting”
Europe and Asia with
bamboo.
Brand Values
Being connected
is essential if you want
to take full advantage
of the opportunities
of a global economy.
DHL physically connects
its customers to the
global markets just as
the Internet connects
Being close to the customer is at the core of the
DHL brand positioning and every DHL employee is
personally committed to serving his or her customers.
They all know their customers well enough to
proactively offer solutions and all over the world, DHL
is locally close to its customers. The brand comes
alive because customers notice that DHL is always on
the case, thinking ahead for them; that customers are
always top priority.
www.dhl.cz
THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT:
DHL
›
In Jirny near Prague, the DHL Exel Supply Chain
runs the LEGO group’s largest distribution center
in Europe. Since 2007, every single LEGO piece
stops over in the Czech Republic on its way to
Europe, Asia, Africa or South America.
›
Prague is the location of the biggest DHL IT center
worldwide. Adopting the follow-the-sun principle,
the three IT centers in Prague, Kuala Lumpur
(Malaysia) and Scottsdale (USA) take turns in
taking the lead every eight hours.
›
DHL Express (Czech Republic) s.r.o. established
and implemented a system of environmental
management in 2006. As a result, DHL Express was
issued a certificate, which proves that the company
complies with ISO 14001:2004.
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