IPC reports 3.3% revenue growth trend for posts worldwide

The first half of 2015 saw a revenue increase of 3.3% for posts worldwide, according to International Post Corporation’s (IPC) Global Postal Industry Report (GPIR) Key Findings. Summarising the findings of the GPIR, which presented full-year 2014 results and initial 2015 results, IPC said: “Despite the significant challenges that lie ahead, the outlook for the postal industry is positive. The industry’s financial performance in the short term looks to be improving, with both average revenue growth and operating margins at the group level increasing in the first half of 2015.

“The results were in part driven by improved performances across both mail and parcels business units: Compared to the same period in 2014, average revenue growth remained stable for mail (0.2%) but doubled for parcels (10.5%), while margins strengthened for both divisions.”

Herbert-Michael Zapf, President and CEO, IPC commented: “In 2014, we have seen the continued rise of e-Commerce, the posts’ main growth driver, and this trend has been again confirmed in the first half of 2015. The global shift towards e-Commerce and new media has revolutionised the way the postal industry cooperates with operators and the way they interact with customers.”

IPC sees e-commerce as the “key to the future”. E-commerce will generate more parcel volumes, thus making the parcels segment a driver of postal growth.

“Parcel and express volume grew by 6.3% in 2014 on average, though this was slower than the overall growth in e-Commerce,” said IPC. “International parcels and express volume continues to increase and now represents 16.3% of total parcels and express volume.”

These were encouraging statistics – but it is even more encouraging to note that there is still a lot of untapped potential. As Zapf explained: “While the global postal parcel volume growth remains above GDP growth on average, it lags behind online retail growth, showing the ongoing growth potential for posts.”

The GPIR noted that total mail volume fell by 3.9% in 2014 on average, although admail continues to experience a more moderate decline (around 2%).

“E-substitution remained the primary driver of mail decline across markets, with digitisation affecting a diverse range of market segments including corporate advertising and government administration,” added IPC. “Results for posts’ mail divisions remained positive on average however, thanks to cost efficiency initiatives and innovation. Mail remains the industry’s primary revenue source, though its share of total industry revenue fell to 44.8% in 2014.”

The IPC Global Postal Industry Report Key Findings, published today, covers 45 postal operators worldwide along with major integrators. The report includes a broad range of analyses across key areas such as digitisation, e-Commerce and diversification.