experiencing a more than 10 per- cent decrease in revenue and other areas in the Asia Pacific region ben- efiting from an increase in revenues on a similar scale. In the European and Latin American markets, aver- age revenues marginally improved with a 1 percent increase.
Like any other postal operator, Sin- gapore Post felt the impact of the global downturn, too, with a drop in its mail business. However, the post- al player found itself in the top five by keeping its revenues and profits largely stable in the first quarter of 2009 to 2010 due to strong (5-6 percent) growth in logistics and re- tail business.
Yet many postal organizations have taken the initiative to act during this exceptional period. Press report- ing at the 28th Ordinary Session of PAPU Administrative Council in Egypt cited how TNT aimed to save €300 million from a redesign of its network
Diversification Postal organizations that achieve
high performance adopt a strategy of revenue diversification. As indi- cated in the 2009 report and rein- forced once again in the 2010 find- ings, a strategy that reduces reli- ance on the traditional mail product has emerged as a clear winner. Re- tail and financial services, followed by logistics, are the most common areas of diversification and results show that adopting diversification in these areas did lead to marginal improvements in gross margins. As an example, overall Australia Post margins have improved over the years with initiatives such as web- enabling its retail outlets via net- POS, allowing real-time connections between Australia Post and third parties. It has also launched a Click and Send service enabling its suite of international parcels services to be processed online.
Customer centricity
Postal organizations that achieve high performance adopt a cus- tomer-centric approach. Earlier research shows that a consistent, differentiated customer experi- ence has a greater effect on cus- tomer loyalty—and, by extension, on growth, profitability and share- holder value—than any other fac- tor related to managing customer relationships. The research found that not only do consumers expect better service quality—a factor that is more influential than price when choosing to do business—but they are also more likely to leave one company for another due to poor service than for any other reason. Studies in the postal sector show that high performers place a strong emphasis on building knowledge
of their customers and striving to improve the customer experience. They choose to promote customer- centric products, increase their adoption of technology for con- sumer convenience, and design and personalize products. For example, Poste Italiane is providing mobile phones and handsets for postmen enabling them to process payments upon delivery. Post Danmark is us- ing eCommunications’ IT based ser- vices business to offer customers a total solution for handling electronic and physical communications. Post Danmark provides value-added ser- vices by focusing on customers’ needs with a solution which ensures correct receipt of data, preparation of documents and handling of con- version, quality control, distribution, as well as delivery and monitoring of operations. Another of our top five performers, UPS, mines its da- tabase to drive new revenue based on customer behavior, undertaking sophisticated analysis to increase its market share.
Cost focus
Postal organizations that achieve high performance are now out- sourcing some of their IT, logistics, operations, and banking and finan- cial services operations. Perhaps one of the most recent trends in the postal world, outsourcing can help posts address the increasing focus on core operations, cost man- agement issues and ensuring qual- ity of services through standardized services and processes. Although the trend toward outsourcing is in its infancy, it will increase in popular- ity significantly in the future. Why? Because while in the past postal organizations were mainly service and revenue-driven, competitive pressures and the squeeze on mail volumes mean that other ways to achieve cost efficiencies must be considered. In particular, extracting more value for less cost from back- office operations is an area that of- fers considerable opportunity.
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