Tag: direct mail

E-mail overtakes print for marketing offerings

Posted by | Aug 12, 2007 | |

The volume of marketing offers sent by e-mail has overtaken print direct mail in the UK for the first time as com­panies exploit the low cost and other benefits of electronic campaigns.

The milestone highlights the challenge to Royal Mail and others with sizeable businesses charging for producing and delivering print direct mail when advertisers are reducing print volumes in the GBP 14bn-a-year industry.

Latest figures from the Direct Marketing Association estimate that in the fourth quarter of 2006, commercial e-mail volumes increased by 50 per cent year on year.

The electronic format was heavily adopted by retailers e-mailing vouchers in the run-up to Christmas and that is likely to be repeated this year.

Specialists questioned by the DMA predicted the volume of e-mail marketing would grow by another third.

Most marketers however believe a combination of print and online is the most effective approach, particularly as campaigns can be confused with spam, which is estimated to account for up to 90 per cent of internet traffic.

A new study from Royal Mail found customers prefer to receive both mail and e-mail in different contexts, and spend more if communicated with by both methods.

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La Poste organises a public consultation for presenting its direct marketing project

Posted by | Aug 10, 2007 | |

La Poste launched a public consultation for offering new direct marketing products.

This public consultation is organized with ARCEP (French postal regulator).

The objective of this consultation is to modernize and offer a new range of products linked to the Quality Courrier program which will be launched during the first quarter in 2008.

This public consultation is open from 20 August 2007 to 14th September 2007.

These new offers will be accompanied by an evolution of commercial conventions which govern the relations of the Post office with its large customers.
New rules will be added to the mails of more than 50 grams (The current conventions regulates the direct marketing and courier management of less than 50 grams).

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Royal Mail – Strike action poses big questions for Direct Mail

Posted by | Aug 2, 2007 | |

Fears mount that stalled services may drive sector to use alternatives to print.

It’s not been a good year for Royal Mail so far. The company has been thwarted by postal regulator Postcomm over its plans for a zonal price structure and has faced an outcry from its own workers over its proposed modernisation.

This has now resulted in strike action that has all the signs of rumbling on for the foreseeable future. Last month, the Communications Workers Union (CWU) signalled its unhappiness with a 2.5% pay offer and got its way on industrial action. It started with two 24-hour stoppages and has since escalated its action to a rolling programme of strikes over the next week.

If this continues, then there are implications not only for Royal Mail but the direct mail sector. A knock-on effect is starting to concern printers and industry bodies with brands eying up potential alternatives to print.

‘The postal strike is having an effect, no doubt about it,’ explains Howitt managing director Gurdev Singh. ‘I am convinced that the combination of the traditional summer lull and uncertainty over mail deliveries is making people postpone some campaigns.’

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Austrian Post acquires 100% shareholding of German direct marketing service provider meiller direct GmbH

Posted by | Jul 31, 2007 | |

Following the signing of the agreement and the approval granted by the responsible anti-trust authorities, Austrian Post announces the formal closing of the transaction effective July 31, 2007, enabling it to acquire a 100% shareholding in meiller direct GmbH. The initial consolidation of meiller direct takes place at the formal closing date.

meiller is one of the largest direct marketing service providers in Europe. The services provided range from the production of documents and mailings, dialogue services (e.g. CRM, address management and response management), as well as the further processing and finishing of dialogue media (e.g. binding and polywrapping of catalogues). meiller operates production facilities in Schwandorf (Germany) and Nyrany (Czech Republic), and is also represented with sales offices in several Western and Central European markets. Last year, meiller produced a total of 685m documents, of which 175m were designed for international delivery. Starting with its initial business focus on the mail-order business, meiller has succeeded in attracting top customers from other branches in recent years (e.g. Daimler Chrysler, E-on/IS).

In particular, meiller will be able to provide considerable support to the subsidiaries recently acquired by Austrian Post in the core countries of Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Croatia, to assist them in more effectively penetrating these markets. At the same time, the transaction opens up significant new sales potential for meiller in the Central and Eastern European region.

In the year 2006, meiller achieved revenues of approximately EUR 112m (2006 business year: October 2005 – September 2006), employing a total of 1,180 people. The enterprise value of the company as at March 31, 2007 was determined to be EUR 60.5m. It was agreed by the parties to the agreement that the purchase price (enterprise value less net financial liabilities) would not be disclosed.

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New PIN code for bulk mail in Chennai

Posted by | Jul 1, 2007 | |

Chennai is one of the cities identified for the launch of a new system of six-digit PIN (postal index number) code, aimed at serving bulk recipients of mail.

As the new PIN codes will be customer specific, it would suffice if senders of mail or articles wrote the respective PIN code. There will be no need for writing the detailed postal address.

Under the proposed system, the first three digits will indicate the existing sorting district.

For instance, in the case of Chennai, the first three digits will remain as 600. But, the last three digits, to be assigned by the State-level or regional-level postal authorities, will be unique to each customer.

Apart from individual bulk addressees, the PIN codes are going to be earmarked for specific buildings such as Rajaji Bhavan, where a large number of offices are located. The customer PIN codes will be provided to the bulk addressees free of cost.

Sources say there is a provision for premium numbers with regard to the last three digits. But, they will be allotted by the Postal Directorate.

The rationale behind the new system is to facilitate automation and mechanization of mail processes, leading to speedy delivery. The proposed system is going to be launched in major cities and towns of the country as it has been found that almost all business mail get generated in the urban centers. Also, a majority of mail meant for delivery is also within 78 cities and towns.

At present, many bulk recipients of mail are subscribers of the post box system, under which they are required to collect their articles from the post offices. But, under the proposed system, postmen will deliver the mail at the places of the addressee.

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