German private mail operator PIN Group will open its first Post Shop in a regional bank to testwhether to develop a nationwide network of retail outlets. This would be Germany’s third postal
network behind Deutsche Post and the planned opening of 13,000 Hermes parcel shops to TNT Post.In a pilot project, PIN Mail will offer postal services in the savings bank of Siegen inNorth Rhine-Westphalia from 1 September 2007. Further Post Shops will follow in other savings banksin the north-west German state over the following few weeks. If the tests are successful, thecooperation will be extended to other savings banks across Germany.
The Post Shops will sell PIN Mail stamps and accept items for delivery through PIN Mail. Thenew partnership will also be represented in a joint stamp to be issued on 1 September 2007.
“With the pilot projects we are testing if we can expand our service range to privatecustomers through the savings banks with the aim of having one of the densest networks of stampsales and mail collection points in Germany. Savings banks with their branch networks would be anideal partner,” said Günther Thiel, CEO of PIN Group AG.
The pilot project is a strategically important step for PIN to make its services available toconsumers and small businesses. So far, it has focused on large companies and organisations withregular mail volumes. The move is similar to that of TNT Post which will start to market itsservices through the 13,000 Hermes Parcel Shops in Germany from January 2008.
PIN Group, now majority-owned by the Axel Springer publishing group, is aiming to increaserevenues from EUR 168 million last year to some EUR 350 million this year. Earlier this month, itwas announced that Axel Springer’s logistics chief Karsten Böhrs would join the company’s board asCOO with responsibility for logistics and sales, and Julian Deutz, CFO for Springer’s magazinesdivision, would become CFO.
