German digital association Bitkom conducted a representative survey of 514 companies with logistics processes and 50+ employees. 89% of the companies that transport goods stated that they do not cooperate with startups in the logistics sector. It is noteworthy that this figure has barely changed in the past two years, when it stood at 90%. Just 3% of the companies surveyed develop new products or services in the logistics sector in conjunction with startups, despite the fact that there is a wealth of possible applications here. Examples include autonomous delivery robots and the blockchain for the end-to-end documentation of supply chains.

Consultancy firm Simon-Kucher & Partners contacted 22 logistics service providers, posing as an end customer. The result of this ‘mystery shopping’: A large number of the companies avoid B2C business. Some even explicitly referred to surcharges for this. According to the consultants, this indicates that logistics providers “actively want to prevent end customers from booking a service”, although the potential is there for them to expand their business with attractive offers and additional services.