form and without any innovation regarding the vehicle or the service
(as opposed to new players who can be subcontractors too). Thanks to
our interviews we have been able to gather some information. Even if
those firms could occasionally provide national or local runs, they are
very often economically dependent on contractors who use them
as an adjustment variable. They have undergone complex economic
situations as very small firms, and even contractors, are driving prices
lower. They are generally paid only when they have succeeded in
delivering the shipment. It can be middle size firm, with a one bossdriver
or few deliverymen. They generally use rental light duty vehicles
or old vehicles, with a combustion engine as their economic situation
generally prevents them from investing in a sustainable fleet. In the
French academic literature, those players are under-studied and very
poorly understood, their market share is unknown. The main reference
is Grand (Grand, 1999) completed by a report on light duty vehicles
(Observatoire social régional des Transports des Pays de la Loire, 2008).
3.2. Estimated market shares in France and movement of consolidation
within the parcel delivery segment
The parcel distributionmarket appears to be relatively concentrated.
Shown below, the estimated market shares of the different players of
the French urban parcel delivery segment regarding the number of
parcels delivered in 2011 and based on figures recorded during the
interviews (Fig. 4). Note that subcontractors are invisible because they
deliver parcels that are recorded by their contractors.
Traditional actors of the CEP sector dominate the market. Nevertheless,
at present the sector is still a place for numerous startups and
innovations. It is bipolarized into a few players on a national,
European and even global scale who are able to control it, and many
little firms, often local subcontractors for the larger firms. More than a
bipolarization, the concentration divides the CEP sector into three
groups involved in complex relationships of power and dependence:
traditional players of the worldwide CEP sector and established postal
and express firms; new innovative players in parcel delivery and in
the Internet sphere; and local subcontractors for last mile deliveries.