Consumer logistics refers to the distribution of goods people encounter in their daily lives, among which parcel delivery service accounts for the largest share of the consumer logistics market. The recent upsweep of e-commerce coupled with the increase in non-face-to-face consumption has significantly influenced the parcel delivery service industry and the demand for consumer logistics is expected to continue growing. During the past decade, the volume of transported goods of consumer logistics (parcel delivery service) has increased at an average rate of 11.1% annually, and the frequency of using parcel delivery service per person increased at an average rate of 17.4% per year.
In 2020, in the Seoul metropolitan area, an average of 11.36 million parcels either arrived or departed per day, where Gyeonggi-do Province accounted for 6.68 million or 58.8%, the largest volume of transported goods in the Seoul metropolitan area. In terms of cities, in the Gyeonggi-do Province, the greatest volume of transported goods is in Yongin, Hwaseong, and Goyang with 630,000 (9.5%), 560,000 (8.3%), and 630,000 (7.9%) parcels, respectively. When predicting the volume of transported goods in consumer logistics for 2030, according to the number of arrivals based on resident population, 8.41 million parcels is estimated for the Seoul metropolitan area, a 73.1% increase from 2020. For Gyeonggi-do Province, the volume is expected to reach 4.94 million, an 81% increase from 2020, demonstrating the largest growth among the three major regions in the Seoul metropolitan area. With respect to cities within Gyeonggi-do Province, Hwaseong is expected to account for the largest volume of transported goods at 440,000 (9.0%) parcels, with the greatest increase of 240,000 parcels compared to the volume in 2020. The city of Hanam is forecasted to show the greatest rate of growth at 130.4% (130,000) from 2020.
Consumer logistics service is evolving into general service for the people; however, the consumer logistics facilities in Gyeonggi-do Province are concentrated in certain areas and deemed insufficient to meet the growing demands. In this respect, the following response measures for building a new logistics system are suggested. First, there is the need to provide a balanced consumer logistics supply for the expected increase in demand despite the current concentration of facilities in certain areas like the eastern regions of Gyeonggi-do Province. Second, the increase in demand calls for the need to build urban consumer logistics infrastructure closely linked to people’s life, including high-tech/convergence regional logistics based infrastructure, high-efficiency shared urban distribution centers, and micro fulfillment. An example would be Gyeonggi-do Province’s e-commerce smart logistics complex. Lastly, arranging an eco-friendly logistics system centered on safe logistics facilities and transport means is deemed necessary to generate high quality jobs.