DHL

The Challenge

DHL wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the European same-day delivery market, which was becoming increasingly competitive and fragmented. The aim was to evaluate the size of the opportunity, understand how customers were using same-day solutions, and identify where gaps in the market existed. This would inform product development and pricing strategy, while also helping DHL assess the commercial viability of maintaining — and potentially scaling — its same-day offering.

The Solution

A pan-European programme of research was undertaken:

In-depth qualitative interviews with both suppliers and users of same-day courier services, to uncover attitudes, decision-making drivers, and pain points.
A service quality audit of key competitors, involving live test shipments across a range of pre-determined lanes. These evaluated not only service speed and reliability, but also customer communication, flexibility, and perceived value.
A pricing analysis mapped against service quality, revealing the trade-offs customers were willing to make between cost and reliability.

This combined approach provided DHL with a clear benchmarking view of where they stood versus competitors, as well as insight into unmet customer needs and expectations.

The Outcome

The insights enabled DHL to:

Re-engineer its same-day service proposition in line with customer expectations.
Optimise pricing to better reflect both demand and perceived value.
Improve operational focus on the key service attributes that mattered most (e.g. reliability, proactive updates, transparent tracking).

As a result, what had been a loss-making operation was successfully turned around into an important and profitable part of DHL’s European portfolio, with a clear competitive positioning and a pipeline of innovation opportunities for future growth.

DHL

The Challenge

The Solution

The Outcome

You don’t need a brief. Start with the problem.