The Kahala Posts Group (KPG) is increasing its share of the international express and parcelmarkets with strong growth rates both last year and this year despite the market decline. The
alliance of 10 major Posts claims to be winning business from the global integrators withcompetitively-priced products.KPG posted volume growth in excess of 11% in 2008, with revenues surpassing US$1.5 billion.Revenues are now forecast to rise by 9% this year. Further figures were not immediately available.
“Despite the downturn in the global economy, KPG has experienced steady volume and revenuegrowth in the past 12 months, while expanding our membership to ten members,” said Japan Post CEONorio Kitamura at a media briefing at the alliance’s annual CEO meeting in Kyoto, Japan.
“Importantly, this growth has occurred at a time when express and air cargo industries havesuffered from a serious downturn in the international parcels and cargo market,” Kitamura pointedout. “We have experienced continued growth through the first two quarters of 2009 and we believeit’s due to our products offering excellent value at a time of economic hardship and a door-to-doorservice other service providers can’t match,” he said.
Businesses and consumers are switching to KPG’s reliable, door-to-door service, away fromslightly faster but significantly more expensive alternatives in the market, he stressed. “Tougherglobal economic conditions mean businesses and consumers are under increasing pressure to find waysto lower their international express and parcel shipping costs. KPG provides a simple andreliable solution,” he said. “Our level of on-the-ground expertise and capability is unmatched inmany markets. We provide businesses and consumers with the peace of mind that comes with reliableend-to-end services, whilst providing them with significant cost savings.”
KPG offers two international delivery products, which are particularly attractive to SMEs andprivate customers.
The Express Service is a fast, reliable and guaranteed date-certain solution. Delivery can beas fast as overnight between some markets but is generally 2-5 working days. Customers can tracktheir shipment’s progress online or by phone, and receive courier pick-up options and a signatureon delivery. The Express Service is currently offered to eight markets (Australia, Mainland China,Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the United States, Spain and Great Britain), while France and Singaporewill be added in the first quarter of 2010.
Air Parcels is a reliable low-cost alternative for shipments that are less time-sensitive.Transit times tend to be 4-8 business days between major metropolitan areas, and online tracking isavailable. The Air Parcels service already covers all ten markets.
KPG was formed six years ago by Australia Post, China Post, Hongkong Post, Japan Post, KoreaPost, and the United States Postal Service. Since then, it has expanded to Europe with the additionof Royal Mail, France’s La Poste and Spain’s Correos as well as welcoming Singapore Post as a newmember.
“The addition of these new members means KPG has grown from an Asia-Pacific alliance into anetwork with a truly global reach. KPG continues to expand its network and is currentlylooking at several other opportunities,” Kitamura said.
“KPG now gives our customers the power to deliver to 328 million addresses linked by adatabase of 16 billion postcode combinations. Service is accessible through the widest retailnetwork of more than 176,000 retail locations or by accessing our pick up service. Our customersknow when they use KPG they use a door-to-door fully-tracked integrated network covering everysingle delivery point in the destination country. No other delivery agent has the same levelof experience in delivering as frequently as we do.”
CEOs of other KPG members also highlighted the benefits of membership for their companies.Jack Potter, head of the US Postal Service, said: “At a time when our customers are seeking costsavings more than ever before, Express Mail International is a very attractive alternative withconsistent levels of reliability and performance on par with private couriers. Through KPG, we areleveraging the expertise of our shared technology and an integrated network to provide thisdate-certain, dependable, fully-tracked and guaranteed service at very competitive prices.”
Royal Mail CEO Adam Crozier commented: “KPG is at the forefront of the postal world and isleading the way in responding to the needs of global customers. There isn’t a deliverycompany in the world that can match KPG for its scale and capability in relation to access, reachand local knowledge.” Paul-Marie Chavanne, Executive Vice President, Group La Poste, added: “Membership in KPG not only provides opportunities for business development, it also creates uniqueexperiences for us to share knowledge on service quality, products and services with world-classoperators.”
Asia Pacific Posts also pointed out the benefits of cooperation through the alliance. MinNamgung, CEO & President, Korea Post, said: “The EMS network of the Kahala Posts Group EMSNetwork has created strong value and our customers have shown tremendous trust in this reliableexpress mail service.”
“KPG has become the leading channel for China Post to provide international express and airparcel services to customers,” stated Liu Mingguang, vice president of China Post Group. “Byfocusing on customer service and reliability we are seeing more and more customers making theswitch to KPG,” added Graeme John, managing director, Australia Post.
