WMX Americas 2010: In the Hotseat…
At the recent World Mail Express Americas 2010 conference held in Miami, several hot issues were discussed, among them: customer power, improving the delivery experience, relationships between national posts/operators/integrators, universal service and trust. John Modd, director mail, Triangle Management Services put key presenters ‘in the hotseat’ by asking them key questions: Q: Should posts be cautious about giving integrators access to their nationwide delivery network?
A: Carl-Gerold Mende, CEO, Austria Post: This is an area in which the postal industry will have some interesting exchanges of opinions over the next few years. The borderlines between B2B and B2C become blurred more and more. What we have seen happen over the last few years will increase, namely, the former purist B2C sender has up to 25 percent of his goods in the B2C area. So, the question is, how are we going to see the development of competing B2C networks. Today, integrators are correctly seen as having an advantage because of their international connections. So, why should posts give away their nationwide delivery network advantage. In the short-term, I think we will see several competing systems either regionally or globally (a combination of posts doing things together or partnering with big integrators). But because of the unique capability of posts to deliver to the B2C market they have real a chance to prosper in the parcel business. Therefore, they have to be very careful how they are playing their cards.
A: Ingo Babrikowski, director general, Estafeta Mexicana S.A. de C.V.: The situation is Mexico is different. At the moment, we do offer almost the same services as the posts. So B2C delivery is currently a large portion of our services. The deciding factor for our customers is Quality, that’s how they choose.
Q: What strategic thinking went into the growth of ecommerce in order for posts to offer a wider solution to customers?
A: Franklin Sluis, general managing director, Nieuwe Post N.V. Netherlands and Antilles: With the steady decline in regular postal mail volume and e-substitution we knew we had a problem. However, our philosophy is: with every problem arises an opportunity. We have a viable postal network. So, if we wanted to survive in this business climate we had to start thinking of a new type of business. That’s how NPNA’s E-beezz Online Shopping Portal came about. Today, E-beezz positions postal partners as e-commerce leaders with an all-inclusive solution for online shopping, logistics and customer service.
Q: Over the past few years, a troubled relationship has existed between national posts and private operators. Can you comment on the current situation?
A: Ingo Babrikowski, director general, Estafeta Mexicana S.A. de C.V.: In Mexico and other South American countries there is a clash between the Universal Service Obligation (USO) on behalf of the government and high quality level of service provided by private operators. Our belief is that the government should accept this situation and regulate the postal service accordingly. Unfortunately, that is not happening at the moment.
A: Carl-Gerold Mende, CEO, Austria Post: In Europe there is a different angle to this relationship since national regulation authorities are involved. For example, in the UK all competitive developments have to identified, discussed and agreed upon by the regulator before you can move forward. However, in Austria the legislation which becomes effective in 2011 allows us to compete freely in all areas which do not involve individual letter mail pieces handed over to the post office. The USO debate here needs to address the basic question: what does the post of the future look like? Currently, regulations do not allow posts to become a communications company. Posts are strictly a delivery company. But, if posts are to compete commercially they need to change with the times.
Q: How do you see the role of the UPU in re-defining USO?
A: Richard Miller, managing partner, Market Response International: The UPU does have the Consultative Committee studying this issue. One of their charges is to come up with a broad recognition of what USO is. In the end, however, it will be up to the individual countries to decide. It’s really a national issue that’s embedded in the national law of some countries and not others. So, it varies considerably.
A: Carl-Gerold Mende, CEO, Austria Post: The UPU is the only forum where basically all postal operators in the world come together on an operational point of view. The CC has opened an avenue into the commercial debate. The main demand in this respect must be that postal operators need to live up to reality and protection of their market is never going to be the final decision. It may help for a year or two. But, it is never going to be sustainable solution. The only way the post office has a chance to survive is if it is cut loose to fairly compete with everybody who is competing with it. And that is the challenge we have. We need to start controlling our own destiny in all the forums available to us or else it is going to be extremely difficult to keep the posts alive.
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