TNT Post is taking a twin-track approach to profiting from e-commerce with a combination ofwebsites and logistics services, a company director said.
The Dutch e-commerce market is
currently worth about €8 billion and grew 11 per cent last year, Dirk van Lammeren, the company’se-commerce director, told last week’s European Postal Services conference in London. There are 10major shops, 300 mid-sized operators and about 20,000 small online shops, while key trends includemore use of mobile devices and social media for e-commerce activities.The Dutch postal operator, which will soon be re-branded as part of the separation of TNTExpress from the group, has adopted a dual approach to growing in the e-commerce market, heexplained. The company had acquired expertise and scale through its ‘buy and build’ strategy,including the takeover of e-commerce firms Top Pak and Kowin last year.
TNT is acting as an online retailer by operating several webshops selling post-relatedproducts and thus gaining customer-side experience, van Lammeren said. These include sjopze.nl, ageneral website selling clothes, beauty products, electronics, sports items and household goods.The company is also active in Dutch social media channels. Its main e-commerce activities, however,are as an ‘integrated service provider’ with services ranging from webshops and payments tofulfilment and delivery. Customers can ‘pick and mix’ from a broad range of modules, includingareas such as webshop creation and content management, order and stock management as well ascollections, sorting and delivery.
TNT Post currently provides diverse services to about 15 large e-retailers in theNetherlands, van Lammeren said. In the future, the company wants to move away from simple parceldeliveries towards ‘e-integrator chain solutions’ and online retail management, he added.
The TNT Post e-commerce chief cited the case studies of fashion clients MS Mode and WEFashion, for whom it is providing a package of services including webshop, delivery and customerservices for the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany (and Switzerland in the latter case).
