Japan’s E-Commerce Growth Fuels Expansion of Last-Mile Delivery Fleets

The Japanese e-commerce market’s strong 2021 growth is expected to continue fueling the country’s last-mile delivery fleet industry, as consumers increasingly demand fast and same-day delivery.

GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, estimates e-commerce in Japan will register a 10.5% jump in 2021 as consumers are increasingly shifting from offline to online. The country’s well-developed e-commerce market has grown sustainably over the past five years, by necessity producing related growth in the last-mile delivery fleet sector.

According to market and consumer data provider Statista, in the fiscal year 2020, the last-mile delivery logistics market size amounted to approximately 2.54 trillion Japanese yen. The market expanded significantly in 2020, as the COVID-19 situation drove demand for deliveries. The last mile delivery market is expected to further grow and to reach almost three trillion yen by 2023.

Last mile delivery is the final leg of a trip when a product goes from a transportation hub to its final destination.

GlobalData Analyist Ravi Sharma comments: “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought in a permanent shift in consumer buying behavior pushing them towards online, a trend that is expected to continue even beyond the pandemic times.”

Similar strong e-commerce growth is occurring in China, where, according to GlobalData, the market is estimated to register an increase of 17.2% in 2021.