Author: Archive

Royal Mail reports on postal samples' success

Posted by | Apr 11, 2007 | |

In 2006, 69% of consumers in the UK used a free sample that they received through the mail, and a further 37.6% redeemed a money-off voucher or coupon, according to a report published by the Royal Mail. This equates to more than 31.1 million free samples or money-off vouchers mailed by stores and brands that were used by consumers. A further 15% of consumers who received vouchers or samples requested more information, while an additional 36% at least read or examined the vouchers or samples before disposing of them. According to Bill Jenkinson, market development manager for Royal Mail, “This shows that free samples are appreciated by consumers and are very effective at driving product trial. Consumers also respond positively to money-off vouchers, whether by redeeming them or requesting more information.” The report, conducted by TNS for Royal Mail, interviewed a sample of 2,500 consumers that were representative of the country’s population.

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NZ Post’s SOA move cuts operational costs by 70%

Posted by | Apr 11, 2007 | |

NZ Post is claiming a 70% reduction in IT operating costs, after moving to a service-oriented architecture and open-source operating system — despite saying it is just 30% through its transformation journey.

Moving to a service-oriented IT environment is the only way forward, says Alan Roberts, infrastructure and architecture manager of New Zealand Post’s postal services group.

NZ Post started its journey in 2003. Today, the organisation’s service-oriented share infrastructure (SOSI) is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server, Oracle Application Server 10g and the Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition.

“We have got a long way to go to turn our [whole] IT environment into service. We have Exchange as a service; Oracle as a service [and] we are currently building an SQL service and an internet service,” he says.

The decision to move to a service-oriented model was driven by the lack of agility of the existing infrastructure and high operating costs. These were primarily the result of the escalating maintenance costs of ageing Sun hardware and an Oracle licensing model based on price-per-CPU, “and we had lots of them”, says Roberts.

The new solution has proven itself. It outperformed the old one by more than 500%, while using only a third of the CPUs. The result was incredible, he says. But to be fair, says Roberts, it’s a known fact that Linux is a very lightweight operating system compared with Sun, IBM or Windows. In addition, the Linux environment was running on commodity hardware, based on Intel or AMD processors, which were gaining performance much faster than the equivalent SPARC-chip, for example, he says.

The organisation has managed to reduce IT operating costs by 70%, mainly by reducing maintenance costs, says Roberts.

“Instead of buying a NZD30,000-40,000 box we buy a NZD5000-7000 IBM Intel box, and we get greater performance and less maintenance cost.”

Most of NZ Post’s 350 servers run Linux today and whatever is done in the future will be Linux-based, he says.

NZ Post runs its organisation as a federated model, which means the various business units — for example, Kiwibank — can use the corporate infrastructure Roberts is responsible for, although they are not obliged to, he says.

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DHL India to launch time-bound delivery for US

Posted by | Apr 11, 2007 | |

DHL will start booking Indian consignments for the US from April 15 under its time-bound delivery scheme.

“In India, the time definite delivery (TDD) service to the US will be on offer starting from April 15,” DHL said in a statement after USA was added into the TDD scheme.

The scheme was earlier available only for Asia-Pacific, Europe and Middle East.

The TDD service, currently available in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore would be extended to Hyderabad by this month-end, while DHL plans to cover other cities like Pune, Jaipur and Kolkata in a phased manner.

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Combined post offices not to handle telegrams

Posted by | Apr 11, 2007 | |

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has announced that booking and delivery of telegrams from the combined post offices has been withdrawn with effect from April 1.

Telegrams meant for areas that were not within the delivery areas of BSNL Telegraph Offices would be sent from the last nodal Telegraph Office either by post or conveyed over telephone, provided the telephone number was given by the sender.

The move has been implemented as per the decision of the Department of Posts, A.Balraj, Principal General Manager, BSNL, Tiruchi, said in a Press release.

In places where the postal authorities have closed the service, public can book telegrams through the Centralised Phonogram Facility by dialling 1585, the release added.

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DHL launches YES awards

Posted by | Apr 11, 2007 | |

DHL announced on Tuesday the launch of the Young Entrepreneurs Sustainability (YES) Awards, focussing on the achievements made by the young social entrepreneur for the achievement of the millennium development goals.

The award seeks to recognise and promote young social entrepreneurs in Asia working towards the UN millenium development goals and DHL Pakistan seeks to identify and highlight the initiatives undertaken by young Pakistan entrepreneurs in pursuit of excellence in the respective fields of the MDGs.

In the inaugural year, the awards will initially take place in five countries in Asia Pacific region; Bengladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The objectives of the programme is to identify, recognise and promote outstanding young social entrepreneurs in Asia Pacific, invest in and support young entrepreneurs to expand and replicate their innovative solutions and create a platform to share resources and best case practices within the Asia Pacific region.

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TNT Post partners with Tribe for regional deliveries

Posted by | Apr 11, 2007 | |

TNT Post has appointed field marketing agency Tribe to promote its local mailing services and build its UK customer database.

The deal follows a trial campaign conducted by Tribe in South West England in March, which involved various marketing stunts aimed at engaging with local businesses and demonstrating TNT Post’s mailing services.

TNT Post now plans to roll out the activity through Tribe across the country, to communicate to local businesses the benefits of its T service — a day definite mailing service for businesses that send more than 250 unsorted mail items per day, or have weekly, monthly or irregular mailshot requirements.

Nick Wells, chief executive of TNT Mail UK, said: “Consumers are bombarded by hundreds of marketing messages a day, many of which are not even acknowledged.

“We wanted to find a medium that would actually engage with potential customers and offer on the spot information which would then result in a call to action.”
TNT Post said it would be working with Tribe to develop “creative marketing methods” that will encourage higher response rates from potential new business.

TNT Post was recently awarded a three-year contract by BT to deliver its Phone Book to 3.2m homes across the UK.

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Deutsche Post, Metro, GS1 joint venture cleared by EU

Posted by | Apr 11, 2007 | |

The European Commission said it has cleared Deutsche Post AG, Metro AG and GS1 Germany GmbH’s proposed acquisition of shares for joint control of European EPC Competence Centre.

The transaction was examined under the EU’s ‘simplified’ merger review procedure; cases which the commission believes do not pose competition concerns.

No financial details were disclosed.

Deutsche Post has postal, logistics and financial services. Metro is a supermarket group, while GS1 deals with data and goods traffic optimisation systems.

The European EPC Competence Centre runs tests on electronic transmitters provided with goods.

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S&P'S affirms NZ Post Ratings

Posted by | Apr 11, 2007 | |

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has affirmed its ratings on New Zealand Post, but revised its outlook to negative because of slowing growth in its postal business.

S&P’s downgraded its outlook from stable.

NZ Post’s long-term rating of AA- is S&P’s fourth-highest rating level, reflecting its government ownership, market position and strong cash flow, said S&P credit analyst Anna Hughes.

“The negative outlook reflects the flattening growth of NZ Post’s core postal business and its changing business mix,” Ms Hughes said.

The popularity of email meant growth in letters would continue to decline, leaving NZ Post’s other businesses operating in more competitive markets to contribute a larger share of earnings.

The effect of banking subsidiary, Kiwibank, on the overall business was also increasing.

Kiwibank contributed 23 per cent of NZ Post’s net income, but its modest position in a very competitive market, and moderate profitability, detracted from the parent’s credit position, Ms Hughes said.

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