Polish Post preparing fully integrated e-commerce solution
Polish Post is planning to launch a new “comprehensive” solution for e-commerce shipping combining shipping with financial and digital services. The national postal operator said online shopping accounted for about a quarter of the entire parcel market in Poland last year, and that it handled about 31% of those e-commerce shipments.
The state-owned firm now has an eye on the fast growth of the e-commerce sector, and is planning new services to take advantage of the boom.
Polish Post said its plan is to provide integrated services combining package shipment with banking, insurance and digital services.
The new platform will make use of services from the postal bank Bank Pocztowy, Polish Post’s postal insurance business Ubezpieczenia Pocztowe and the company’s digital platform Envelo for payment and invoicing.
The company said that for the e-commerce merchant, using integrated services would mean effectively enjoying a lower cost for each service.
Polish Post said that along with the new integrated approach to e-commerce services, it will provide a returns capability to allow consumers to easily return items purchased online.
Trend
Jerzy Jóźkowiak, the Polish Post president, explained: “This combination is part of a trend that can already be seen in Europe: the full integration of services for the e-commerce sector, instead of postal operators focusing on shipping and delivering packages, as was the case in the early stages of online trade development.”
The Polish e-commerce market has been developing rapidly in recent years, growing 30% year-on-year in 2012 and now thought to be worth around EUR 6.5bn. Forecasts suggest more than 20% year-on-year growth going forward.
The new e-commerce offering from Polish Post comes as the company continues its investment in modernisation, which was stepped up from PLN 190m (EUR 46m) in 2011 and 2012 to PLN 250m (EUR 60m) last year, and is set to increase in future years. The company, which has now been profitable for four years, is aiming to transform its entire business, not just its offerings for e-commerce.
