Tag: Europe

Corrreos to implement its own geographic information system (GIS)

Posted by | Aug 13, 2007 | |

Correos will implement its own geographic information system (GIS) in the forthcoming months. The system will help in the decision process of office locations, sort centers, routes design, pick up and delivery systems and management of the transport system.

The winner of the public tender were Sadiel (for technology services) and Sitesa (for geographic system) companies. The value of the acquisition and implementation is EUR 778,000. The project started last July and will be divided into 3 stages:

– 8 months of development (elaboration of the system customized to Correos’s needs)
– 6 month of support (solutions to problems during the first few months)
– 2 years of geographically-referenced information.

Correos has been using the Geographic Information System for many years. With this project, Correos wants to extend this technology in other areas like Correos Telecom, Virtual Post Office and other units.

The GIS system will also improve the search of office locations through Correos’s website.

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L’Oréal Finland Oy to Outsource its Cosmetics Product Logistics to Itella Logistics Oy

Posted by | Aug 13, 2007 | |

L’Oréal Finland Oy has chosen Itella Logistics Oy as its logistics partner. As part of this partnership, the warehousing of L’Oréal’s cosmetics and personal care products and the products’ final preparation for sales distribution channels in Finland will be handled entirely by Itella Logistics Oy. The total service package offered by Itella will encompass the warehousing of L’Oréal products and all sales support material for its marketing channels. Control of the distribution centre will be transferred to Itella Logistics Oy’s information system, which will be integrated into L’Oréal’s enterprise resource planning system. Around 18 million products are handled annually.

As part of the agreement, at the beginning of November 40 L’Oréal Logistics professionals will transfer to Itella Logistics Oy. L’Oréal’s warehouse function has been centralised in Hakkila, in the City of Vantaa, in 8,000m² premises particularly suitable for storing cosmetics products.

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Post Office workers stage fresh strike

Posted by | Aug 13, 2007 | |

Thousands of Post Office workers are today staging a pay strike, which comes after separate industrial action by postal workers was called off last week.

In the latest walkout to hit Britain’s postal service, staff employed at crown post office branches are striking after 5,500 members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) rejected a two-year pay freeze proposed by the Post Office.

The union says that 465 crown post offices were affected last Monday 13th August.

A similar strike is also planned for Wednesday 15th August, with staff also disgruntled at plans to close 70 crown post office branches – main branches sited on the UK’s high streets – and transfer services to retailer WH Smith.

At the centre of the dispute are Royal Mail’s modernization plans, which union leaders claim will result in the loss of up to 40,000 jobs.

The CWU claimed last week that the plans involved “significant changes including later delivery start times and permanent reductions in customer services” and represented an “unnecessary attack on postal workers’ jobs, pay and conditions”.

However Royal Mail has said that the union is “ignoring the harsh commercial reality” of the UK postal market, which was recently opened up to full competition.

The postal services provider insists that modernization is necessary because it is losing business to rivals who have more efficient operations and lower prices.

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Royal Mail mess

Posted by | Aug 12, 2007 | |

Horror stories about the state of Royal Mail abound. But there is a good chance that these tales are not circulating in the form of a letter, stamped and mailed at a post office. That loss of market share lies at the heart of Royal Mail’s problems: its operations are a shambles – not entirely its own fault – and the company is facing ever more competition it is not equipped to handle.

Good news, then, that after weeks of sporadic walkouts, the Communication Workers Union – a bastion of resistance to modernization – has called off further scheduled strikes and sat down with management to reach a deal for 130,000 employees.

In these negotiations, both sides need to understand the two kinds of competition Royal Mail faces: digital communication technologies and more digitized competitors.

Every day, Royal Mail sorts millions of letters by hand and rewards its staff handsomely for the trouble: on average, its employees earn 25 per cent more than their colleagues in private companies. But it is also 40 per cent less efficient than the automated competition.

Reforms need to come fast. Today, one in five letters is handled by competitors. These private delivery services mainly focus on profitable business such as large corporate delivery contracts. If Royal Mail does not modernise its operations soon, it will be left with only unprofitable parts of its operations.

Regulators need to give greater clarity about which aspects of the business they consider a public service. That should help Royal Mail to avoid cross-subsidizing its work as a utility with income from profitable units. Flexibility should extend to price-setting as well. Royal Mail needs to be able to raise prices in smaller steps and at greater frequency.

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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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