Postal operators can shake off declining mail volumes and successfully grow in the future bydiversifying their businesses and embracing new technology, Universal Postal Union (UPU) director
general Edouard Dayan told CEP-Research in an exclusive interview. He sees e-commerce and financialservices are two key growth areas.“I’m relatively optimistic,” Dayan said in an exclusive interview at the recent Post-Expo inHannover. “The Posts which diversify their businesses can be more optimistic than others. If youstay only with mail without taking IT or globalisation into account, then you might have a goodreason for being pessimistic.”
Mail volumes have slumped around the world over the last year due to the combination of theeconomic recession and a switch from print to electronic communications. “We are seeing a downturnin mail from the crisis and electronic substitution. We will not have the same growth in thefuture,” Dayan admitted.
However, mail had a future, for example, as an advertising medium for direct marketing. “Mailis a single tool to measure the return on investment directly,” he declared. But direct marketingmail needed to be adapted to the needs of customers and target groups, he stressed.
The future of the universal postal service obligation will also become a key topic. “Theuniversal service is important but cannot be fixed forever. It needs to be adapted continually tothe needs of society,” Dayan said. The future of the USO will be the subject of a UPU conference inNovember, he added. “We have opened the debate.”
The postal sector needs to see itself as part of the wider communications sector, and takeadvantage of new opportunities created by new technologies, Dayan stressed. The internet is openingup cross-border online shopping, for example, with a resulting surge in parcels for home delivery.
The B2C segment is key,” Dayan declared. “If Posts are able to use new technology tointegrate the supply chain, then the market is worldwide. There is huge potential from e-commerce.”Posts can also help SMEs to grow internationally through their expertise, as the Exporta Fácilscheme in Brazil shows, he added.
More generally, Posts benefit from high levels of trust in society, Dayan pointed out. Thisexplained why postal banks in countries such as France, Italy and Switzerland had profited stronglyfrom consumer mistrust of other banks during the financial crisis, he commented.
Turning to UPU activities, Dayan highlighted the potential of the planned ‘.post’ internetdomain as a dedicated internet space for postal operators to offer products and services in asecure online environment in the future.
Another important project is the recent launch of the Global Monitoring System (GMS), whichprovides Posts with inexpensive RFID tags to attach to letters in order to track items through thesorting and delivery chain. This will enable them to monitor service quality and improveoperational efficiency. “What’s good about GMS is that it is for all postal operators, not justthose from industrialised countries,” Dayan explained.
Since August, 21 UPU members have been testing the technology by sending 24,000 test letterscontaining RFID tags from 38 nations to 21 destination countries. A further 30 countries areexpected to join next year, and the long-term aim is to extend the scheme to all 191 UPU members.
In another important development, about 150 countries now participate in the Post.Netcommunications network, which enables electronic data interchange not only between Posts but alsowith airlines via IATA and from next year also with customs authorities. Japan Post recently joinedthe system.
