TNT Post Parcels upgrades IT to chase e-commerce business

TNT Post Parcels has completed a major upgrade of its IT network in Belgium, as it pursues new volumes from the fast-growing e-commerce sector. The company has deployed 230 new Motorola MC95 Rugged Handheld terminals across the country that will allow customers to track parcels online at all times of the day.

TNT Post Parcels, part of Dutch operator PostNL Parcels Benelux, said it now has a uniform IT environment in both Belgium and the Netherlands.

It means the company can gradually roll out services across Belgium like ecommerce ordering and payment platform Checkout and parcel tracking and delivery management platform MijnPakket.

TNT Post Parcels is looking for the service upgrades allowed by the IT investment to attract more business from the Belgian online market, which it says achieved more than EUR 1bn turnover in 2011.

With more and more Belgian consumers buying fashion, books and consumer electronics online, the sector is seeing annual growth rates of around 24% at the moment.

Gerrit Mastenbroek, the director general at PostNL Parcels, said: “With this, PostNL has laid the foundation for its future in Belgium.

“Our customers will be able to track their parcel any time of the day, regardless of whether their order comes from Belgium or the Netherlands.

“In the coming years, we will also be gradually rolling out services that will give consumers more flexibility in deciding when and where their parcel will be delivered, services like Checkout and MijnPakket. This positions TNT Post Parcels Belgium perfectly to profit from the growth in the Belgian online market,” added Mastenbroek.

The investment in IT systems at PostNL Parcels Benelux comes following the company’s acquisition of trans-o-flex Belgium and Netherlands from Austrian Post’s international parcels subsidiary trans-o-flex.