Escher: 2021 sees postal operators accelerating some of their strategies

Set against the changing landscape brought about by the global pandemic, 2021 sees postal operators accelerating some of their strategies and re-prioritising their resources, according to Escher’s Future of Posts Survey 2021.

This is the fourth year of Escher’s Future of Posts survey and probably represents a turning point in postal operator thinking.

A total of 151 respondents from 70 national post offices from around the world participated this year.

This survey identifies the re-focussed intentions of postal operators’ strategic and operational plans, now the marketplace has changed forever.

Escher’s Future of Posts Survey 2021 highlights

• Acceleration of transformation plans for converting from letter mail into parcel delivery businesses
• The need to implement operational efficiency plans and cost reduction measures, so as to recoup the losses caused by the pandemic
• Intensified requirement for Posts to become smarter, with greater deployment of data analytics
• Re-thinking retail and delivery network strategies in the light of changing market demands
• Growing importance of digitalisation and automation across the business
• The continued need to manage growing postal e-commerce traffic, with more emphasis on the last mile, greater efficiencies from route optimization technology and alternative delivery solutions
• Challenges in cross border e-commerce which are still impeding frictionless and efficient deliveries across trading blocs
• Further diversification of the channel mix, with more automated points of service solutions, such as self-service kiosks and mobile apps, to support an improved customer experience, whist maximising efficiencies.
• Most Posts are striving for a flexible operational capability that will expand or contract easily to meet customer demand.
• Depending on local market conditions, customer requirements and resources, future strategies will try to balance an improved customer experience with business development goals. This may come from the type of preferred technology solutions, importance of the e-commerce opportunity and ways of developing and leveraging the postal counter capability.

Between April and  May 2021 Escher’s research partner, Triangle Management Services, conducted an online survey of Postal leaders worldwide. Responses were analysed to identify the re-focussed intentions of postal operators’ strategic and operational plans, post pandemic.