Author: Archive

Industry backs rethink of zonal pricing

Posted by | Jul 27, 2007 | |

Celebrations over the rejection of Royal Mail’s zonal pricing plan were shortlived, with most people agreeing the scheme will be implemented eventually. But at least now it will not be rushed in

When Royal Mail first mooted the introduction of zonal pricing (PM July 14 2006) it was intended as a pre-emptive strike to prevent competitors from cherry-picking major business clients, by bringing in a pricing structure that offered major discounts for city deliveries.

Designed to charge more for delivering to outlying areas, it was part of the postal operator’s strategy to introduce cost-reflective pricing, affecting all mail sent through Mailsort 3 – the most popular service for direct mail – and magazine-delivery scheme Presstream.

But the benefits evaporated almost overnight when Royal Mail revealed that deliveries inside the M25 were also to incur a surcharge.

One of the main voices of discontent was the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA), which condemned Royal Mail’s zonal pricing plans, as “benefiting no one but Royal Mail and being hugely damaging to the magazine industry”.

Only last week the PPA was claiming that pressure from its members had led to Royal Mail revising its application.

Seven days on and the scheme is doomed, following Postcomm’s decision to force Royal Mail back to the drawing board once more.

A PPA spokeswoman comments: “It is in everyone’s interest that we have a healthy Royal Mail but the impact of these proposals would have led to a reduction in all mailing volumes, including those of magazines. We don’t dispute price-reflectivity but it is not easy to implement without competition in the market.”

Meanwhile WWAV Rapp Collins Group chief executive Marco Scognamiglio says: “While we believe that Royal Mail should have greater flexibility when dealing with business customers – to compete effectively with rival operat- ors and with other media channels – this zonal pricing proposal was clearly not the way forward.

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DHL in drug distribution deal

Posted by | Jul 27, 2007 | |

DHL Global Forwarding is to distribute albendazole, a drug used in the prevention of Lymphatic Filariasis also known as elephantiasis, for GlaxoSmithKline on a not for profit agreement basis.

As part of a commitment to eliminate LF, GSK has opened a GBP 1.5m manufacturing facility in Cape Town, South Africa to produce albendazole. GSK is partnering with DHL Global Forwarding to manage global distribution. The operation is based at its Cape Town distribution centre.

GSK has donated more than 600 million treatments free of charge to stop the transmission of this disease.

Over the past three and a half years, DHL Global Forwarding has worked with GSK to distribute albendazole to 36 countries.

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Shipping companies deliver good returns

Posted by | Jul 27, 2007 | |

Package shipping is big business. Global exchange, ecommerce and changes in supply chain management have all contributed to this boom. The number of packages delivered is absolutely, positively staggering.

United Parcel Service is the biggest and bluest of the bunch with a market capitalization of USD 78.7 billion, sales of USD 47.9 billion and an AAA credit rating. This company makes roughly 15 million deliveries every day with its more than 100,000 vehicles. It is the most profitable of its peer group with earnings that have averaged almost a 15 pct growth rate over the past three years and a return on equity of 26.6 pct.

FedEx is one of the world’s largest express-delivery firms with a market capitalization of almost USD 35 billion, sales of just over USD 36 billion, 53,000 drop-off locations. It does business in more than 200 countries. FedEx’s earnings have seen a growth rate of 28.6 pct over the past three years, accounting for a 15.2 pct return on equity in the last year.

With a market capitalization of USD 9.7 billion, Expeditors International of Washington generates USD USD 4.7 billion of revenue by playing middleman with no assets. This firm buys cargo space in bulk and then resells it to its customers needing shipping space. The company also provides customs brokerage and other related logistics services. Although technically called “consolidation” or “expediting”, EXPD also is involved in freight forwarding as circumstances dictate.

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Canadian market has its own preferences, needs and expectations

Posted by | Jul 27, 2007 | |

The most active groups of Canadians who have the highest response to catalogers are between the ages of 35 and 55. They like to purchase men’s apparel, women’s casual shoes, and home décor, according to a recent research project Canada Post did with NPD Group titled, “What Canadians Want – A study into direct buying behavior, July 2007.”

In 2006, retailers in Canada sold USD 391.4 billion worth of goods, up 6.4 percent from 2005 – the highest in nine years.

The most active online shoppers are 25 to 34 and buy small electronics, men’s clothing and skincare products.

Borderfree – Borderfree is a service provided by Canada Post that enables US retailers to accept payment in Canadian dollars as well as quotes of duties and taxes at the time of purchase. Through a white-labeled payment portal, Borderfree does customs brokerage and clearance leveraging Canada Post’s postal network, delivering to over 14 million addresses across Canada.

Canada Post recently introduced Canada’s first customer modeling tool specifically for the catalog market. The Snapshot segmentation system segments 12.5 million households into five major buying groups and over 150 subgroups to assist US mailers in determining market size, customer profile and circulation plans.

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IMRG launches go green, go online campaign

Posted by | Jul 27, 2007 | |

IMRG has launched a Go Green, Go Online campaign to raise awareness of the environmental advantage of shopping online. It has also awarded its first green awards – the OnLine Green Awards (OLGAs).

James Roper, CEO of IMRG says: “A growing body of research from around the world is proving that internet shopping can be green, and that its overall effect is green. The GO GREEN, GO ONLINE campaign aims to serve as a lightning-conductor for interest in this subject, to focus research, and raise awareness of the huge potential that the internet-enabled marketplace presents for further increasing efficiency and reducing waste.”

IMRG’s press release says: Shopping online can be very green by being efficient, easing congestion on the road network, and reducing emissions and fossil fuel consumption. Internet companies hold the secret to drastically reducing carbon footprints because they can monitor and measure everything they do and thus make real headway.

An important focus is the ‘Green Comparison’ of CO2 emissions between internet shopping and other retail distribution models: IMRG is a partner in the Government funded Green Logistics research consortium, whereby six leading universities will be conducting retail distribution research over the next four years.

The OLGAs were awarded as follows:

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Royal Mail to sponsor Green Awards direct category

Posted by | Jul 26, 2007 | |

Royal Mail is to sponsor the direct mail category of this year’s Green Awards, as part of its endorsement of environmentally friendly methods of marketing.

The Green Awards, which take place on October 26 in London, were held for the first time last year to recognize businesses that make an outstanding contribution to sustainable development, recycling, resource efficiency and waste awareness in the marketing industry.
Royal Mail said its endorsement of the Green Awards’ Best Green Direct Mail category was part of its commitment to environmentally friendly practices, which include its carbon neutral door to door scheme, corporate social responsibility, and responsible mail programmes.
Other award categories include Best Green Press; Best Green Integrated Campaign; Best Green Packaging Design, sponsored by Asda; Best Green PR Campaign; and Best Green Outdoor, which is being sponsored by Clear Channel.
Matthew Neilson, head of media solutions at Royal Mail, said: “Royal Mail firmly believes that a high quality direct mail campaign can still exist, and the key to this is careful targeting and sensitive use of materials, to avoid pollution and excess waste.”

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Authentidate Announces New Agreement to Provide U.S. Postal Service EPM Service

Posted by | Jul 26, 2007 | |

Authentidate Holding Corp. announced a new three-year agreement with the U.S. Postal Service(R) (USPS) to act as a non-exclusive authorized service provider of the USPS Electronic Postmark(R) (EPM).

Authentidate is the first provider to be authorized in a new standards- based, EPM(R) model created by the Postal Service to help ensure performance standards and facilitate the potential for enabling multiple service providers. The new agreement with Authentidate follows a revised strategy by the USPS(R) for the EPM program that was announced in October 2006. Under this new framework, the USPS will license the necessary trademarks and intellectual property to potential authorized providers, allowing them to independently price, as well as market, issue and verify EPMs. In order to ensure a unified level of service across all providers the Postal Service will define and maintain the technical and operational standards for the EPM service, and serve as backup verifier for all EPMs issued across all providers.

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