The world’s postal operators again increased revenues last year thanks to rising e-commerce volumes but growth slowed to 2.9% which was lower than in the previous two years, according to preliminary figures from IPC.
For the fourth year in a row, the global postal sector registered overall revenue growth as many posts reported increased e-commerce-related volumes, a key driver for future growth, the postal association said. Revenues had increased by 3.7% in 2013 and by 3.9% in 2012.
Important regional differences remained between Europe, Asia Pacific and North America last year, however. While total revenue growth in Europe reached 1.4%, Asia Pacific and North America showed growth of 3.9% and 3.2% respectively. Posts from emerging economies presented a strong growth of 8.0%, which can be partly explained by higher economic growth and rapidly increasing e-Commerce sales.
The IPC figures were based on results from 29 major postal operators around the world, which represent the bulk of global postal revenues and volumes.
Herbert-Michael Zapf, President and CEO of IPC, said: “These preliminary results for 2014 confirm a positive trend for the postal sector. This demonstrates that postal strategies to diversify into new areas while at the same time continuing to innovate in the core business are paying off. Ongoing e-commerce growth as well as data-driven marketing present untapped growth opportunities for the postal sector. IPC continues to support postal operators in maintaining high quality standards, while at the same time helping them to further improve the postal sector’s cross-border solutions for consumers and e-retailers, to leverage this growth potential.”
Complete 2014 results as well as results for the first half of 2015 will be presented in the 2015 IPC Global Postal Industry Report to be published in November 2015. The report includes a comprehensive and detailed review of the postal industry, covering 45 postal operators worldwide and analysing key market trends. A publicly available summary, the IPC GPIR Key Findings, will also be published.
