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eBay sellers concerned over shipping rate changes

Posted by | Apr 15, 2007 | |

Seventy-seven percent of eBay and online sellers are concerned about higher shipping costs when new USPS rates go into effect in May, and 26 percent are concerned that postal tools they use may not be ready when the changes go into effect, according to a recent AuctionBytes survey.

Most respondents reported they sell on eBay (98 percent); 21 percent sell on Amazon, 17 percent sell on Half.com, and 23 percent sell on their own ecommerce site or storefront. Other sites included Yahoo, other online auction sites, bookselling sites, classified sites, online antiques malls, and other.

Eighty-four percent of survey respondents were aware that US postal rates were changing on May 14th. The majority of respondents (68 percent) said the changes would have a net increase on their total postal costs, and 20 percent did not know how the new rates would affect their total postal costs. Ten percent said the new rates would not have an effect on their total postal costs, and 3 percent said the new rates would have a net decrease on their total postal costs.

In a question about which postal tools they used, 73 percent of respondents said they use eBay/PayPal postal tools; 18 percent use Endicia; 7 percent use Stamps.com; 5 percent use features provided by auction-management vendors; 4 percent use Pitney Bowes; 2 percent use Dymo; and 20 percent use other tools.

Half of the respondents (51 percent) use automated tools to help shoppers calculate postage costs on their items, but 55 percent did not know if those tools would calculate the new rates when they go into effect; 35 percent said the tools would calculate the new postal rates, and 10 percent said they would not.

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TPN have revealed their Depot of the Year to be TWE Haulage Ltd.

Posted by | Apr 14, 2007 | |

At the 2nd Annual Awards ceremony held on 14th April at the Hinckley Island Hotel, TPN Members enjoyed a black tie dinner. This year’s awards, in addition to the five regional awards and the Depot of the Year award, were supplemented by two further categories, Input Depot of the Year and Delivery Depot of the Year. As with last year, the winners were voted for by their fellow Members.

TPN MD Adam Leonard addressed the guests before the awards, citing the previous year as ”the year that saw TPN come of age as a Network and that it was now considered to be a major force in the industry, a tremendous achievement by TPN’s Members.” He also announced that TPN had adopted the British Heart Foundation as the Network charity for 2007.

TWE Haulage covers the OX postcode for TPN, and has recently relocated to larger premises in Banbury. They have been a TPN Member for over 5 years.

The Regional Awards went to: Northern Region – McLellan’s Transport Ltd; Midlands Region – TWE Haulage Ltd; Wales and West Region – Andy Lee Transport Ltd; South East Region – L T Baldwin Transport Ltd; Eastern Region – Pallet Network Anglia.

Input Depot of the Year was awarded to Lombard Express Ltd with TSL Europe Ltd winning the Delivery Depot of the Year award.

Novice Depot of the Year award went to TPN Hub in recognition of their coverage of a local postcode at short notice.

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Small financial services using e-mail to compete: Mintel survey

Posted by | Apr 14, 2007 | |

Many large financial services firms are experimenting with a blend of direct mail and e-mail marketing to communicate with their current customers and merchandise their new products and services. In contrast, many smaller financial services have turned to e-mail to attract new customers with acquisition offers.

According to Mintel Comperemedia, a competitive intelligence service in Chicago that analyzes direct mail, e-mail marketing and print media, several smaller companies are emerging as more frequently tracked entities in the e-mail marketing arena.

“E-mail marketing has been able to serve as a more affordable option for smaller, lesser-know companies that need to reach new consumers,” said Carmen Curran, analyst for Mintel Comperemedia, in a statement. “Major financial services companies continue to take advantage of e-mail as well, but they have stronger resources to market through direct mail and other key channels. They are also concentrating more on marketing to current customers through e-mail rather than acquiring new ones.”

Mintel Comperemedia said that as the e-mail sector evolves, companies such as Metabank in the banking sector and First Premier Bank in the credit card sector have been identified as key players, flooding consumer mailboxes with acquisition offers and promotions. However, on the direct mail front, these companies are distributing a significantly lower share of offers than their larger competitors.

As reported March 13 on DMNews.com [http://www.dmnews.com/cms/dm-news/direct-mail/40362.html] in the direct mail category, the top 2006 overall mailers for acquisition financial services direct mail pieces were Chase (1.7 billion), Capital One (1.2 billion), American Express (1 billion), Citibank (980 million), and Bank of America (920 million). While many smaller companies turn acquisition efforts to e-mail marketing, larger companies are opting for e-mail marketing to cross-sell their products and communicate with their customers about their services.

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La Poste sees net profits rise 41%

Posted by | Apr 13, 2007 | |

French public postal operator La Poste reported a 41.6% leap in net profits to EUR 789 million in 2006, from EUR 557 million the year before, on the back of strong growth in express and parcels.

Pre-tax profit rose 22% to EUR 949 million, from EUR 777 million in 2005, as revenues grew 4.3% to EUR 20.1 billion from EUR 19.27 billion the year before. Operating margin was up 0.7% to 4.7% in 2006, higher than the 3.5% forecast.

“2006 was notable for a strong rebound in international operations, mainly express but also financial services and mail,” the group said in a statement. “And it was the year of unprecedented internal investment in support of the modernisation efforts implemented by each of the group’s sectors.”

La Poste said it was confident operating margin would continue to rise, to 5.8% for 2007, as reforms to its pension finances impacted positively for the first time this year.

“Activity in the first months of the year (2007) is globally in line with the forecasts and the group is confident in its capacity to attain its objective for operating margin,” La Poste said.

International turnover grew to over EUR 3 billion (15.2% of overall revenues) in 2006. Express revenues were up 15.7% to EUR 2.93 billion due in part to strong growth again in eastern Europe, Germany and the UK.

Parcel turnover rose 7.2% to EUR 1.24 billion as the number of tracked parcels increased to 75% of the total compared to 60% in 2005 and traffic growth was stimulated by the introduction of electronic commerce. Two-day, on-time delivery reached 91%, 2% up on 2005.

Mail revenues were up just 0.5%, though, to EUR 11.3 billion, compared to the 3.4% growth in 2005, which was achieved mainly through price rises. The first year of Banque Postale’s activities – separated from La Poste on 1 January 2006 – saw it increase revenues by 6.3% to EUR 4.58 billion.

Net debt grew 37% to almost EUR 6 billion at the end of 2006, compared to EUR 3.78 billion on 31 December 2005, mainly due to a one-off, EUR 2 billion pension fund payment to the state.

Internal investment was up 29% to EUR 1.136 billion as modernisation work forged ahead. Four new mail hubs opened and work began on 20 others across France, EUR 200 million was spent on renovating parcel depots and sorting centres, and over 1,000 post offices were made over.

External investment reached over EUR 500 million through the acquisition of B2B small parcel firm Exapaq, document management specialist Orsid and asset manager Sogéposte (now part of Banque Postale). Total investment by the group thus increased by 70% to a record EUR 1.64 billion, from EUR 958 million in 2005.

The group said the improved profitability would allow it to continue to increase internal investment and reduce its debt ratio in 2007.

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Dutch Parliament delays decision on mail market deregulation

Posted by | Apr 13, 2007 | |

The Dutch parliament decided to postpone its decision on the deregulation of the Dutch mail market until next week, but during its debate on the topic it became clear that a large majority will support the plan to liberalize the market as from Jan. 1, 2008.

The parliament discussed a proposal by Frank Heemskerk, Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, to liberalize the Dutch mail market, which until now is dominated by TNT NV. A large majority seems willing to support the plan, although members of the parliament asked for a bit more time to come to a final decision.

There were several amendments on the proposal and they have to be discussed first. TNT, which has a monopoly in The Netherlands on mail services for all letters up to 50 grams, is against an opening of the Dutch market from the beginning of 2008 because it fears that other European countries will likely wait longer to do so.

The German parliament has already agreed on deregulation of its domestic postal market. Various German government officials, however, have expressed doubts whether the country should pursue the plans, because the French government has said it doesn’t want to open up its postal market before 2012.

There is no fixed date by which E.U. member states need to have fully deregulated their postal markets. E.U. Internal Market and Services commissioner Charlie McGreevy proposed in October last year to open up the entire European Union market by Jan. 1, 2009, but this was met with protests from many member states and a formal decision has yet to be made.

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New Royal Mail service to unite dormant account holders with savings

Posted by | Apr 13, 2007 | |

A new service developed by Royal Mail could help banks trace customers with dormant savings accounts.

A 60 per cent success rate is being claimed by the postal service for a technique which can locate account holders who have moved home but have neglected to inform their banks.

Royal Mail uses information gathered over the last 16 years from its Mail Redirection service to ascertain the whereabouts of lost customers, and the method has already completed a successful trial.

The announcement comes soon after the Commission of Unclaimed Assets confirmed it was to redouble its efforts to unite dormant account holders with their money.

“People moving home without telling their financial provider is one of the key reasons for an account or investment becoming dormant and our unique information on people who have moved home over the past 16 years helps us identify them,” said Leonora Corden, Royal Mail’s head of market development.

It is estimated that GBP15 billion is currently deposited in dormant bank accounts in the UK.

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Deutsche Post's DHL to restructure India jv to hold majority stake

Posted by | Apr 13, 2007 | |

Deutsche Post AG’s DHL plans to restructure its joint venture with Lemuir Group in India, paving the way for it to hold the majority stake in the venture, the Economic Times reported.

After the restructuring, DHL will hold a 76 pct stake in the new company, DHL Lemuir Logistics Private Ltd, while Lemuir will hold the balance 24 pct stake.

Lemuir’s new promoters have agreed for a cash exit option for their reduced stake. In the previous joint venture, DHL Danzas & Lemuir, DHL and Lemuir had a 49 pct and 51 pct stake respectively, the paper said.

According to the paper, though negotiations have successfully concluded, certain legal formalities have to be completed and an announcement is expected in the coming few weeks.

The global logistics major also plans to enter the container freight station business, the report added.

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