Competition in UK starting to benefit smaller businesses

Research commissioned by Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services, has found the benefits that large mailers have been experiencing since the market was opened have now started to slowly spread to smaller businesses. However, much more progress is needed and the challenge posed by growing alternatives to mail confirms the need for mail operators to continue to pursue greater innovation.

The market research, which forms part of Postcomm’s latest annual Business Customer Survey, revealed:
Although Royal Mail remains the dominant operator, one in five small and medium mailers and more than a third of large mailers are using more than one mail provider;
one in five respondents have explored alternatives to mail and have moved some of their mail to other media in the past 12 months which confirms the need for all postal operators to place more emphasis on customer service and innovation; and more than half of respondents agreed that competition has improved choice and more than a third believe competition has improved Royal Mail’s quality of service.

Also published today is Postcomm’s annual Competitive Market Review (CMR), which looks at factors affecting competition in the postal sector. Key findings of the CMR included:
– mail volumes were 2 per cent down on last year but there are indications that direct mail is growing in sectors such as building societies, charity, and health;
– end-to-end competition has declined by four million items and stands at less than one per cent of total mail volume, but mail volumes collected by ‘access’ operators and delivered by Royal Mail have more than doubled and now represent 19 per cent of revenue-derived mail volumes.

Both documents were launched at the UK Mail Show.