The Universal Postal Union (UPU) plans to launch an international parcel return service by January1, 2014, simplifying the return process for customers shopping onlne as e-commerce remains an
essential growth driver for the postal industry worldwide.Following the decision by the UPU Congress back in 2012, the UPU is due to develop atransparent accounting mechanism to ensure reasonable regional air conveyance costs. In addition,it needs to define rates to cover the collection costs of a destination’s postal operator whilecoordinating the new service with customs officials to ensure smooth handling of return products atborders.
Christine Bétrémieux, who is responsible for the parcels and logistics programme at UPU,said: “This service is often available domestically, but needs to be developed at the internationallevel. It is an essential service to have for fostering cross-border e-commerce and allowing poststo grow their business in this market.”
Joost Magielsen, from the Dutch operator PostNL, will be in charge of UPU’s return-serviceworking group. He said it will be challenging to have the new optional service ready by January2014, when the updated UPU Convention and regulations come into effect. “The new service has tomeet several international challenges, such as affordability, traceability and priorityprocessing.”
UPU will work with other postal entities already operating or exploring return solutions tosave development and maintenance costs, as well as to reduce the ‘time to market’ for the newservice, Magielsen added.
In 2011, international parcel volumes reached 58 million items, according to UPU statistics.Since 2006, this business segment has experienced annual growth of 5.3 per cent and is expected tocontinue growing. The Interactive Media in Retail Group predicts that total B2C e-commerce saleswill pass the trillion-euro mark in 2013.
