Doorstep milk deal sees TNT develop mail network
A ground breaking deal has been announced in the UK between TNT and Express Dairies, part of a Danish-Swedish co-operative Arla, which will enable the Dutch postal operator to use the milk retailer’s doorstep delivery network for distribution of mail.
The initiative has been facilitated by the partial de-regulation of the UK postal market which has seen TNT, German post office DPWN, Hays and UK Mail (a subsidiary of FedEx partner Business Post) develop operations to challenge the former monopoly Royal Mail. Express Dairies has also received a long term licence from the postal regulator and presently delivers items such as catalogues and contact lens to 6 million households alongside milk.
To date these companies have focused efforts to break into the market on the upstream elements of the mail distribution process i.e. the collection and sortation of business mail from large clients prior to its injection into Royal Mail’s delivery network. Access agreements to use Royal Mail’s network have been struck over the last few months by TNT, DPWN and UK Mail.
However the new agreement between TNT and Express Dairies provides the capability for TNT to offer its clients an end-to-end delivery solution without using Royal Mail at all. This could prove to be a major competitive advantage as it will allow the company to more aggressively price its products. However as Express Dairies’ network only delivers to a proportion of UK households, it will still utilize Royal Mail’s more comprehensive coverage.
