Various postal operators around the world are transforming themselves and offering new onlineservices to grow their business, this week’s World Mail & Express Europe conference in
Copenhagen heard.The “bold and forward-looking” merger of Swedish and Danish Posts as Posten Norden has beensuccessful so far with integration of the logistics and IT businesses but retention of Posten andPost Danmark as the traditionally-branded national postal operators in their respective country,CEO Lars Nordström explained. “Unification is the name of the game. We are working towards ‘one’wherever possible,” he told the conference. In five years, the two separate mail businesses “willprobably be one business area” with local operations in each country, he forecast.
Ingimundur Sigurpalsson, CEO of Iceland Post, outlined the company’s plans to transform itselfand cut operating costs by reducing the number of post offices, closing two distribution centres,restructuring home deliveries and cutting rural deliveries from five to three days a week. It willlaunch an electronic mail service in September. Meanwhile, Ales Haus, head of Slovenia Post,stressed that the company had increased profits last year and was focusing on operationalexcellence and new business areas ahead of full market opening in January 2011.
Home delivery and electronic services were also the theme of several presentations at thetwo-day event.
Saudi Post is “re-inventing the future” by focusing heavily on e-commerce and technology,Muhammed Benten, president and CEO, explained. “Posts have to create demand,” he declared. Theoperator has launched an ‘e-mall’ with 60 online stores where it takes care of customer managementand shipping.
But it has even more ambitious plans to create a gigantic interactive ‘virtual mall’ on theinternet, with 1,000 online stores located in a 10-storey building. Online shoppers will be able tovisit the stores by clicking their way through the ‘virtual mall’. “We think this will open thewhole world to the consumer,” Benthen said. Saudi Post will deliver all the goods bought in themall. Meanwhile, the national postal operator has also eased deliveries by creating the country’sfirst nationwide postcode system, linked to GPS and RFID technology.
Estonian Post has made 2C/home deliveries into a separate business area and is expandingservices for this market segment, said Aavo Karmas, management board member. The postal operatornow offers home deliveries on Saturdays and until 21:00 during the week, has set up online toolsfor retailers, SMEs and private persons, and has launched an online shop for new electronicretailers. Traditional mail-order parcels are now delivered to homes instead of only to postoffices. In future, customers will want faster deliveries from Asia and other overseas markets, andwill want delivery at agreed times, Karmas predicted.
Thomas Baldry, Deutsche Post DHL senior vice president Global Mail Germany, highlighted thelaunch of various innovative products and services, including the PostMobil application forsmartphones, the ‘handyporto’ service with an SMS-generated 12-digit code for postage payment, andthe forthcoming secure electronic letter product ‘E-Postbrief’.
