The International Postal Corporation (IPC) has increased volumes through various services this year, including the cross-border Interconnect service, and is planning various new products in 2019, according to CEO Holger Winklbauer.
Postal operators are continuing to benefit as e-commerce drives strong growth in heavy parcel volumes as well as in lightweight packets delivered through the mail system, he wrote in an online review of 2018. “We note that although mail volumes continue to decline, the pace is slowing down thanks to the light e-commerce packets going through the mail pipeline,” he pointed out.
The industry’s parcel revenues increased by a dynamic 11% in the first half-year while mail revenues declined by 2.3%, IPC’s recent half-year report showed. Overall, postal operators increased revenues by 4.6% in the first six months of this year, up from a 2.8% increase in the same period of 2017.
“E-commerce is and will remain for some time the main driver for postal growth. It is therefore essential that posts pursue their efforts to meet expectations of e-retailers and their customers, especially on the cross-border markets,” Winklbauer said.
Outlining some key figures from IPC’s own products and services for the worldwide postal industry, the CEO disclosed that volumes going through the INTERCONNECT network for cross-border deliveries “have continued to increase throughout 2018 to now reach 3.8 million tracked items per month”. He added: “Increasing the volumes as well as extending the geographical scope of INTERCONNECT will remain our key priority in the coming months.”
The INTERCONNECT solution, currently used by about 30 postal operators, offers reliable end-to-end delivery times; track and trace; simple return solutions; delivery choice, and improved customer service processes.
Moreover, the IPC Dynamic Merchant Platform (DMP) that aims to “embed” postal delivery solutions within the shopping carts of leading global e-retailers was “further developed” this year, Winklbauer wrote.
Through the DMP, e-retailers will benefit from the cross-border features of an integrated express network for the price of postal delivery, according to the association. Modular features will include a landed cost calculator; regulatory compliance plugins; a document management solution to streamline customs processes; delivery to alternative locations (e.g. lockers, parcel collection points); delivery notification and tracking; harmonised labelling; and an easy returns solution.
Other IPC solutions have registered new records this year, Winklbauer noted. The IPC Common Returns Platform is likely to process about three million returned items this year, while the IPC Pallet Box for consolidated transportation is now being used by seven postal operators, covering France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, UK, Luxembourg and Ireland.
Looking ahead, Winklbauer noted that online shoppers want full transparency on delivery fees (including customs) upon purchase as well as convenience. “This will continue to be a major priority for IPC and will very likely result in a prepayment solution as a future global service of IPC members and other postal operators,” he wrote.
In 2019, the association will celebrate its 30th anniversary as an organisation dedicated to improving the cross-border performance of its member posts. It will also mark the 20th anniversary of its Global Customer Service System, which is now used by 185 posts worldwide for cross-border customer services, especially for key international barcoded or tracked postal products, such as UPU parcels, PRIME, EMS, KPG, EPG and INTERCONNECT.
* IPC has also announced the dates for its Drivers Challenge in 2019. The sixth competition to test teams’ driving and delivery skills and knowledge will be held in Zandvoort, near Amsterdam on 19-20 November. Next year’s event will again include use of electric vehicles.
