Which Delivery Methods Did Consumers Choose in Europe in 2025? Germany, the Czech Republic and Romania — Takeaways for 2026 and Beyond

Data from 2025 show that consumers in Germany, the Czech Republic and Romania are not converging on a single delivery model, which means companies planning growth for 2026 and beyond should tailor their offer to the specifics of each country instead of copying the same checkout across every market. Germany maintains a strong role for home delivery, the Czech Republic relies heavily on OOH (out-of-home), while Romania is growing its network of parcel lockers and PUDO (pick-up and drop-off) points, with cash on delivery still playing a significant role. The common denominator is therefore not a single method, but a growing expectation of being offered a choice of several options.

The biggest challenge will not be finding one winning collection format, but managing a growing number of local variants without multiplying separate technology processes. What do the 2025 European delivery method preferences tell us about designing logistics that can withstand change in 2026 and beyond? The answer leads to two parallel decisions: the customer should see options suited to their own country, while the company needs a backend that is as consistent as possible for managing them. We explain this step by step.

What Will You Learn From This Article? In Brief

This guide shows how to use 2025 delivery data to make logistics decisions for 2026 and the years that follow.

• Germany still needs a strong home delivery offer — in a survey conducted from December 2025 to February 2026, 72% of German respondents said parcels mostly reached them via home delivery / neighbour / safe place, 22% used parcel lockers, and 6% used pick-up points.
• The Czech Republic maintains a strong OOH model — in the same survey, 56% of Czech respondents primarily used lockers, 23% used the home delivery / neighbour / safe place category, and 20% used pick-up points.
• Romania has room for further OOH growth — a 2025 report shows Romanian consumers increasingly choosing parcel lockers and pick-up/drop-off points. At the same time, cash on delivery (COD) still accounts for roughly two-thirds of all transactions.
• The future will not be a single method for the whole of Europe — companies should tailor the customer experience to each specific country, while organizing integrations, data and operational rules within a single technology environment.

Can 2025 Data Help Plan Deliveries for 2026 and Beyond?

Companies can use 2025 data to plan their strategy for the coming years if they combine it with more recent measurements and avoid confusing historical trends with the current share of individual delivery methods. Historical data becomes valuable when it leads to an operational decision — there’s no need to predict what percentage of buyers will choose a locker in 2028. What is needed instead is a checkout, reverse logistics and integration architecture that can shift the share of individual options without rebuilding the entire process.

The following principles help translate survey results into concrete strategy requirements for your organization:

• Assess the direction of change — a single result provides a reference point, but it tells you the most once you compare it with newer data and check whether the same trend continues.
• Check the methodology before comparing results — don’t draw conclusions from several studies based purely on the difference between indicators.
• Translate data into concrete decisions — consider what a given trend means for checkout, returns, payments, the OOH network or the technology backend.
• Leave room for change — choose solutions that will let you add new collection methods, PUDO points, carriers and rules later without rebuilding the entire process.

Point to remember: don’t forecast the exact share of lockers two or four years from now. Prepare your organization so it can respond once the proportions between collection methods actually change.

How to Plan Deliveries in Germany, the Czech Republic and Romania? Differences and Trends

Consumers in Germany, the Czech Republic and Romania choose different collection models, so companies should plan their future offer separately for each of these markets. The biggest contrast is between Germany and the Czech Republic — the former still relies heavily on home delivery, while in the latter OOH has become a central part of the shopping experience. Romania sits at a different point — parcel locker and PUDO infrastructure is growing in parallel with the evolution of payment methods.

Table 1. 2025 data and the direction of deliveries for 2026+ in Germany, the Czech Republic and Romania.

Market	Key signal from 2025	Conclusion for 2026+
Germany	Home delivery 60%, parcel locker 14%, pick-up point 10%	Develop OOH as a complement, not a replacement for home delivery
Czech Republic	Parcel locker 41%, pick-up point 29%, home delivery 25%	Design the checkout with an OOH-first logic
Romania	Growth of parcel lockers/PUDO and approx. 2/3 of transactions via COD	Prepare the system for OOH expansion and a changing payment structure

Germany — Home Delivery Will Remain the Foundation, With OOH Expanding Choice

German consumers still most often use home delivery, so retailers should develop lockers and pick-up points as an additional layer of flexibility.

In 2025, 60% of respondents named home delivery as their preferred method, 14% chose a locker, and 10% a pick-up point. 85% said they could abandon their cart if they didn’t find their preferred option. In a survey published in 2026, 72% named the home delivery / neighbour / safe place category as the dominant collection method, with 22% for lockers and 6% for pick-up points. For e-commerce, this points to a hybrid model, not a shift from home delivery to OOH.

The most important decisions for the German checkout stem from combining home delivery with a much more distributed returns model:

• Keep home delivery in a prominent place — the data gives no grounds for copying a “locker first” layout onto the German market.
• Add a genuine OOH choice — lockers and pick-up points should work as an alternative for people who don’t want to wait for a courier.
• Design returns independently from delivery — in 2025, 59% of respondents preferred returning to a pick-up point, 26% to a locker, and 15% opted for home collection. In the more recent measurement, the respective shares were 45%, 32% and 23%.

Practical tip: don’t copy onto the German market a checkout built for a country where the locker is the default collection form. Customers may need both models, just in a different order of priority.

Czech Republic — OOH Will Keep Its Position as the Key Collection and Return Channel

Czech consumers make heavy use of lockers and pick-up points, so companies should treat OOH as a core element of their future delivery strategy on this market.

In the 2025 data, 41% of respondents preferred a locker, 29% a pick-up point, and 25% home delivery. At the same time, 89% chose to return purchases outside the home. A more recent measurement reinforces this direction: 56% of customers collect parcels from lockers, while for returns, 48% mainly use lockers and 39% use pick-up points.

For checkout and post-purchase, this translates into several concrete requirements:

• Expose OOH early — a locker or pick-up point should be easy to find without going through extra form layers.
• Treat the PUDO map as a UX element — customers need to be able to quickly find the right collection point and recognize the available networks.
• Connect collection with returns — the strong position of OOH on both sides of the process justifies designing last mile and reverse logistics consistently.
• Don’t remove home delivery — more recent data still shows 23% for the home delivery / neighbour / safe place category.

Point to remember: “OOH-first” does not mean “OOH-only.”

Romania — Growing OOH Will Develop Alongside the Digitization of Payments

Romanian consumers are increasingly choosing lockers and PUDO points, while still frequently using cash on delivery.

Market data from 2025 shows that COD accounted for roughly two-thirds of transactions, although digital wallets were becoming more popular, and card payments were particularly important during periods such as Black Friday. Studies also describe the growth of the locker network as one of the fastest-growing logistics trends, pointing to growing interest in parcel lockers and PUDO.

Romania’s strategy must therefore combine collection method with the right payment form, rather than optimizing the two areas separately:

• Keep supporting COD — its current scale does not justify designing the process solely around digital payments.
• Develop OOH support — sources show growing use of lockers and pick-up points, but do not yet confirm their dominance across the whole country.
• Be ready to configure the checkout — as payments digitize, the company should be able to modify the order and availability of options without rebuilding integrations.

Example: a system built for the years ahead should allow you to change how COD, digital payments and OOH are presented without redesigning the entire purchase path.

Will OOH Grow in Importance Across EU Countries in the Coming Years?

European consumers are increasingly using lockers and pick-up points, but individual markets are developing OOH at different speeds.

In data published in 2026, 60% of European respondents primarily collect parcels via the home delivery / neighbour / safe place category, 25% via lockers, and 15% via pick-up points. For returns, the proportions look different: 33% goes to lockers, and 42% to pick-up points, for a combined 75% share for OOH.

OOH is therefore gaining strategic importance, especially in reverse logistics, but it does not remove the need for home delivery.

OOH After 2025 — Flexibility Instead of a Single Model

The growth of OOH increases the number of elements e-commerce businesses need to manage: point networks change, new lockers appear, and the preferred mix of delivery methods differs between countries. In practice, a company needs not so much a single target model, but the ability to quickly reconfigure.

The most important consequences apply to the entire path from checkout to returns:

• Maintain more than one collection channel — the growth of OOH does not eliminate home delivery, especially in markets such as Germany.
• Design the point map as part of the checkout — choosing a locker or PUDO point should require as few extra steps as possible.
• Include OOH in returns as well — European data shows that this is precisely where lockers and pick-up points hold a particularly strong position.
• Build a system that can adapt — new networks, points and business rules should not force a rebuild of the core architecture.

For simpler processes, companies can use ready-made packages that include a PUDO map along with analytics and returns handling, one example being Alsendo Business Pro. This version of our platform — designed for smaller organizations — allows you to, among other things, configure your list of carriers and points and use a map of more than 250,000 shipping and collection locations.

What Other Factors Affect International Deliveries?

Cross-border logistics is shaped not only by collection preferences but also by regulations, infrastructure density, seasonality, marketplace standards, security, and returns strategy. Companies should analyze these factors separately for each country, because even an identical pricing or operational offer can lead to completely different costs and customer experiences in different countries.

The most important areas to consider when designing an international model include:

1. Legal requirements in e-commerce — obligations don’t stem from a single piece of legislation. EU consumer rules govern, among other things, pre-contractual information, the right of withdrawal, and price transparency. The Omnibus Directive extended certain requirements on pricing and marketplaces, the DSA introduced additional obligations for online platforms, while the directive on the right to repair covers, among other things, consumer access to information about repair services..
2. The impact of geography on collection method choice — for example, the Czech Republic requires strong support for a dense OOH ecosystem, while Romania needs parallel growth of the parcel locker network and click-and-collect points in smaller towns. This is an argument for managing service availability based on actual network coverage, not a single national template.
3. Handling peak sales periods — before Black Friday or the holiday season, plan volume, alternative services and allocation rules as early as possible. Diversification reduces dependency on a single order-handling method when load increases sharply.
4. Standards set by marketplaces — customers don’t evaluate an independent store in a vacuum. A short delivery promise, a clear choice of point, tracking, and convenient returns become part of the experience they compare every subsequent purchase against.
5. Reliability of delivery timing — instead of assuming a parcel will always reach the recipient directly and on time, enable redirection. In Germany, in a 2026 survey, 48% of respondents said that if they were away, they would choose a safe place or a neighbour, 29% a pick-up point, and 12% a locker.
6. Profitability of international shipping — calculate delivery, COD and returns costs separately for each country. In Germany in 2025, 55% of respondents said they mainly shop with retailers offering free returns. This part of the offer needs to be factored into your strategy from the outset, rather than treated purely as a post-sale operational cost.

Which Delivery and Returns Model Should You Choose for 2026 and Beyond? One Model Is Not Enough

Companies should design delivery and returns as two related but not identical stages of the customer experience. European data shows this difference very clearly: home delivery still dominates collection, while returns much more often go through the OOH model.

Table 2. Delivery and returns in 2026 and beyond — why one model isn’t enough?

Market	Delivery	Returns	Conclusion for your company
Germany	Home 72%, locker 22%, point 6%	Point 45%, locker 32%, home 23%	Keep a strong home delivery model, but develop convenient OOH returns
Czech Republic	Locker 56%, home 23%, point 20%	Locker 48%, point 39%, home 13%	Design OOH for both collection and returns
Romania	Growing role of lockers and PUDO points	Growing volume of returns — the number handled by Packeta Romania grew 15% year-on-year in 2025	Prepare the system for further OOH growth and a gradual shift in payment structure
Europe	Home 60%, locker 25%, point 15%	Point 42%, locker 33%, home 25%	Diversify delivery methods

Point to remember: future logistics advantage doesn’t have to mean the fastest shipment. It can come from choice, redirection, convenient collection and simple returns.

How Should Large Companies Prepare Their Logistics for Future Markets?

Large organizations should maintain local delivery variants for customers while centralizing integrations, operational rules and logistics data. As expansion continues, not only does the number of carriers grow, but so does the number of PUDO networks, returns, exceptions, allocation rules and connections to WMS and ERP systems. Technology should reduce this complexity on the backend and should not force an identical checkout in every country.

Centralizing Processes — A Ready-Made Platform for Large Organizations

Large companies can reduce operational complexity by managing multiple logistics services from a single technology platform. Centralization does not mean unifying the customer experience — a German customer may still see a different set of methods than a Czech one, even though the company manages rules and data within one environment.

Areas you can organize centrally regardless of the number of countries you serve:

• Logistics integrations — reduce dependency on separate connections maintained for each carrier and market.
• Service selection rules — manage criteria depending on country, destination, order parameters and business requirements.
• Operational visibility — analyze the performance of services and carriers from a single level, instead of spreading data across systems.
• Returns and shipment statuses — maintain a consistent information layer despite different paths shown to customers.
• Adding new markets — design the architecture so that entering a fourth or fifth country doesn’t mean another separate integration project.

An example of a ready-made, advanced platform for large organizations is Alsendo Innoship. Our solution allows you to, among other things, manage courier services from a single place, automatically allocate orders based on their parameters and destination, handle returns, and report on carrier performance.

Custom Architecture — an Individual Solution for Complex Processes

Companies with advanced architecture may need a custom solution, especially when their business rules go beyond what a ready-made configuration can offer. Organization size alone doesn’t determine this need. What matters more is the dependencies between systems, process requirements, and the number of exceptions that a standard platform cannot map effectively.

Such needs arise, among others, in the following situations:

• Multiple internal systems require a specific data flow — a standard integration doesn’t reflect the sequence or conditions in place at the company.
• The organization uses an extensive user and permissions structure — rules depend on branch, role or business unit.
• Service selection relies on custom logic — different rules apply to specific products, sales channels or destinations.
• The last mile requires operational exceptions — selected orders go through a different process than the base volume.
• Existing IT architecture dictates its own integration model — logistics technology has to fit into this setup rather than force its simplification.

For example, if most shipments follow a shared pattern but a specific market, product group or channel requires separate rules, a company may need customization in precisely that part of the process. Our platform Alsendo Enterprise addresses such cases through custom technology solutions and an individual approach to the shipping process and integrations.

What Delivery Strategy Is Worth Adopting After 2025?

After 2025, it’s worth adopting a strategy that tailors the customer experience to each specific country while keeping a shared technology backend wherever it brings operational benefits.

Germany, the Czech Republic and Romania represent different points in the development of the European last mile, so the future will not come down to a choice between “courier” and “locker.” European data reinforces the importance of flexibility and OOH, while also confirming that the differences between countries remain significant.

2025 European delivery methods are worth treating as a starting point for building an architecture ready for change, not as an instruction to maintain current proportions in the years ahead.

Start by mapping the markets, volumes, collection methods, returns and integrations you want to support one, two and three years from now. Then check which Alsendo solution matches the scale and complexity of your logistics — a ready-made, advanced platform can help streamline the processes of a large organization, while an unconventional architecture may require an individual implementation. Together, we’ll find the best solution for your company.

FAQ — What Does 2025 Data Tell Us About the Future of Delivery in Europe?

The following answers explain how to use 2025 and 2026 data to plan deliveries for the years ahead.

How Should You Interpret 2025 Delivery Method Data?

Treat it primarily as an indication of the direction a given market is heading, not as a simple ranking of delivery methods. If subsequent studies show a similar pattern of preferences, you can conclude that a given model remains relevant and factor it into the design of your checkout, returns and logistics backend.

Will Parcel Lockers Replace Home Delivery in Europe?

The available data doesn’t support that conclusion. In a survey published in 2026, the home delivery / neighbour / safe place category was the dominant form of delivery in Europe, chosen by 60% of respondents; other options were 25% for lockers and 15% for pick-up points.

Which Delivery Methods Should Not Be Missing in Germany?

Companies should maintain a strong home delivery offer while also providing OOH alternatives. Current data still shows a clear advantage for delivery to the address / neighbour / safe place, while lockers and pick-up points improve the customer experience and play an important role in returns.

Why Does the Czech Republic Require a Different Checkout Than Germany?

Czech consumers use lockers and pick-up points far more often. In a survey conducted around the turn of 2025/2026, 56% of respondents primarily collected parcels from a locker, compared with 22% in Germany. The Czech checkout should therefore give more prominence to OOH.

Does COD Still Need to Be Supported in Romania?

Yes. Sources from 2025 indicate that cash on delivery still accounted for roughly two-thirds of transactions, although digital methods are becoming increasingly popular.

How Should You Prepare Logistics Technology for the Years Ahead?

Companies should separate the local customer experience from the shared technology backend. You can offer different collection, payment and returns options in each country while organizing integrations, data and carrier management rules within an environment that is as consistent as possible. This way, expanding into a new market doesn’t have to mean building another independent process.

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