La Poste Prepares for Competition
The French post office (La Poste) will see a third of its turnover exposed to competition on January 1 2003 when the dispatch of postal items weighing more than 100g is liberalised within the European Union. Then, when the second stage of the EU postal-sector liberalisation programme begins in 2006 with its extension to items of 50g and over, La Poste will lose its monopoly on Business-to-Customer (B-to-C) postal services – its core activity. Observers point out that La Poste’s 10 biggest customers in the B-to-C field account for more than 15 per cent of the turnover which the group derives from postal services and more than 50 per cent of its margin. Accordingly, La Poste’s new postal-services director, Aime Perret, has taken several measures to ensure that the group rises to the challenge of 2006. These precautions include safeguarding La Poste’s margins, searching for new growth areas such as advertising mailings and postal services on the internet, and a complete overhaul of production, services and tariffs.
