E-commerce: Expert says Posts must act more quickly
Posts have about 500 days left to grasp the opportunities being offered to them by e-commerce, estimates James ROPER, head of a global e-retail intelligence firm based in the United Kingdom.
Speaking at the UPU’s World Postal Business Forum, as part of POST-EXPO 2008, ROPER said e-retailing represented a “huge opportunity” and deplored Posts’ “inertia” in responding to this immense challenge.
Roper urged postal operators to act now in order to become “the” deliverers of choice for merchandise purchased online.
He stressed that Posts could play an important role in resolving the trust issue that still plagues the development of e-retailing. Posts must leverage their reputation as trusted third partners and their extensive networks to benefit from e-commerce, which is expected to increase dramatically over the next few years. Research shows that some 20% of the world’s population, or 1.4 billion people, already use the Internet, and an estimated 90% of sales will be affected by the Internet by 2020.
For that reason, ROPER strongly supported the UPU’s .post initiative, which aims to give the worldwide postal sector a unique secure and trusted identity on the Internet.
Posts have about 500 days left to grasp the opportunities being offered to them by e-commerce, estimates James ROPER, head of a global e-retail intelligence firm based in the United Kingdom.
Speaking at the UPU’s World Postal Business Forum, as part of POST-EXPO 2008, ROPER said e-retailing represented a “huge opportunity” and deplored Posts’ “inertia” in responding to this immense challenge.
“About 5,000 days have gone by since the first secure online transaction took place on 11 August 1994,” said the Chairman of IMRWorld.org. “I estimate Posts have about 500 days left to grasp the opportunity that e-retailing represents before others do.”
Roper urged postal operators to act now in order to become “the” deliverers of choice for merchandise purchased online.
He stressed that Posts could play an important role in resolving the trust issue that still plagues the development of e-retailing. Posts must leverage their reputation as trusted third partners and their extensive networks to benefit from e-commerce, which is expected to increase dramatically over the next few years. Research shows that some 20% of the world’s population, or 1.4 billion people, already use the Internet, and an estimated 90% of sales will be affected by the Internet by 2020.
For that reason, ROPER strongly supported the UPU’s .post initiative, which aims to give the worldwide postal sector a unique secure and trusted identity on the Internet.
“Posts can take a horrible problem and fix it to provide one of the essential building blocks for e-commerce,” he argued.
Roper warned Posts that if they didn’t act more quickly, others would. Indeed, several new distribution companies, some of them exhibiting at POST-EXPO, are responding to market needs. Such companies include ByBox, which is turning 700 phone booths in London into “intelligent” drop boxes or postal lockers so customers can more easily retrieve mail and parcels by this year’s holiday season.
