UPS has announced the expansion of its Standard service to include Saturday delivery for residential packages across eight major European markets.

The service, now available in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom, will not incur additional surcharges.

The expansion aims to improve delivery times and strengthen business-to-consumer offerings for shippers of all sizes throughout Europe.

UPS claims this move makes them the only carrier to provide Saturday Standard delivery without a surcharge in these markets, potentially reaching over 130 million households.

Daniel Carrera, UPS EMEAI President, said: "Through our new Saturday service, we're giving greater flexibility to businesses, helping them improve their customer experience and grow in today's market. It marks another step in our strategy to make logistics a competitive advantage for our customers by providing them with more options to ship than ever before."

The service expansion comes in response to growing consumer expectations for faster deliveries.

Recent data suggests that nearly two-thirds of global shoppers expect to receive their online purchases within 24 hours.

In addition to the Saturday delivery service, UPS has recently introduced other features such as Time Window Delivery, Delivery Photo, and Follow My Delivery to enhance convenience and control for recipients.

UPS said the new service also aims to benefit small businesses by allowing them to meet consumer demands for faster deliveries, including on Saturdays.

Customers will have the option to collect their parcels from nearly 40,000 UPS Access Point locations, such as local shops with extended hours.