SPI offers information at a glance

Different countries, different customs: every market has its own laws and national peculiarities. This is why a promotional mailing can be successful in one country, yet have little impact in another. To help businesses overcome these challenges, Swiss Post international (SPI) has developed a “Direct Marketing Passport to Europe” which describes the various country-specific preferences and customs and is now available free of charge.

It is not always easy to do business across national frontiers. Often, simply translating an advertising message is not enough. What is required is an awareness of the pertinent statutory provisions and of country-specific customs and preferences. With this in mind, Swiss Post International, the international arm of Swiss Post, has developed the new Direct Marketing Passport to Europe. This tool is available in German, French and English and can be ordered free of charge from www.swisspost.com/eu-dm-pass.

Compact guide to successful promotional mailings

The pocket-sized reference book contains 200 pages packed with useful facts and data on cross-border direct marketing in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK. Starting with an overview of how best to prepare for a cross-border mailing campaign, the guide goes on to provide detailed information on each individual market: the significance of direct marketing in each country, where to obtain address data, how addresses should be formatted, data protection issues and the design of mailings.

Discover market potential

With the Direct Marketing Passport to Europe, SPI is extending its information offerings directed at marketing specialists. The Passport is particularly informative on country-specific differences in the seven markets described. It tells us, for example, that the Italian mail order sector lags behind other European countries, which means that this market offers plenty of potential. It also tells us that, while cheques play only a minor role in the mail order business in Germany, they continue to be the most popular form of payment in France. The guide concludes with tips, useful addresses and links for obtaining further information.

Swiss Post International has been a subsidiary of Swiss Post since 1996. Its global workforce numbers 1,000. SPI is represented in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, France, Italy, Sweden, Singapore and the USA with its own subsidiaries. SPI provides customer-focused support to globally active companies in developing, supplying and supporting international markets.