Tag: Europe

FSB calls for Royal Mail shake-up

Posted by | Dec 9, 2006 | |

The Federation of Small Businesses is calling for a shake-up of the service offered by Royal Mail to its members after research showed 82 per cent of small businesses felt post offices were vital to their operations.

The survey of 3,000 small businesses found that Royal Mail’s introduction of pricing in proportion, in which charges are based on the size as well as weight of items, had increased postage costs for 43 per cent of companies. About 44 per cent said the new pricing regime had also raised the amount of time they spent preparing post.

Clive Davenport, FSB trade and industry chairman, said: “In terms of paying bills and invoicing customers the postal service remains the only small business choice despite the increasing use of new technology. This is partly explained because of recent closures of high-street bank branches.”

The FSB survey found that 48 per cent of respondents’ post arrives later since the Royal Mail merged first and second posts into a single daily delivery in 2004 and 82 per cent said closure of their local post office would have a significant impact on their business.

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Royal Mail recruits ‘Address Detectives’ as it prepares for festive postcode challenge

Posted by | Dec 8, 2006 | |

Royal Mail has taken on more than 3,000 “address detectives” as it prepares to handle 400 million poorly addressed and written Christmas card and letters during the busy festive period.

And it has added a series of new features to its online postcode finder as it encourages people to make sure that they put the correct address on the envelope and include the postcode.

Royal Mail expects to deliver more than two billion items over the festive period but estimates 400 million cards and letters will not be able to be read by its automated sorting machinery either because the postcode has not been included, the item has been poorly addressed or the handwriting style is difficult to read.

But more than 3,000 “address detectives” have been recruited for the festive season to support the 1,400-strong team who will decipher the addresses of items that cannot be read automatically so that the letters can still be processed by the sorting machinery rather than by hand.

Alex Batchelor, Royal Mail’s Marketing Director, said: “Mail volumes almost double on peak days in December and it is important that people properly address their Christmas cards and use the postcode. Letters and cards that have clearly written addresses and a postcode can be read by our machines and handled 20 times faster than by hand.

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TNT giving generously

Posted by | Dec 8, 2006 | |

TNT has once again been named as one of the UK’s most caring companies with the news that TNT Express Services figure prominently in a list of the country’s most generous givers to charitable organisations.

The company features in an elite group of 141 companies that donate at least one per cent of their pre-tax profits to worthy causes. This qualifies each company to feature in the ‘PerCent Standard’ – a list of top corporate benefactors complied by the Business in the Community organisation.

The recognition is designed to encourage commercial organisations to embrace the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility and put something back into the communities in which business and industry operates.

Tom Bell, Managing Director of TNT Express Services in the UK & Ireland said: “I am immensely proud of our leading, and sustained, role in making a positive contribution to communities the length and breadth of Britain.

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Customer analysis software lifts Iceland home delivery

Posted by | Dec 8, 2006 | |

Iceland has netted a return on investment within months of implementing a customer analysis and market visualisation system that is enabling it to improve its marketing and home delivery service.

The supermarket has used GMAP Consulting’s Microvision software to analyse data on regional marketing gathered between October and December last year and help it shape campaigns in the run-up to Christmas.

Iceland customer data insight manager Sarah Kirwan explained that the company has been able to assess the success of different combinations of marketing media in different areas. She said: “We do a lot of regional marketing and we wanted to look at how spend has affected performance.”

The software is also being used to profile the type and location of customers using its home delivery service, so that it can target further stores where the service is most likely to succeed.

According to Kirwan, the software has paid for itself within months through improved sales, although it also allows the retailer to better control cost.

“It is mainly about increasing sales,” she explained. The software can also look at home delivery data in terms of cost management.

She added that no stores have yet withdrawn the delivery service as a result of the analysis.

In addition, Kirwan says the maps that the software can create to visualise sales by geography are proving a useful addition to its normal performance reports.

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EU postal reforms: Germany wants agreement by June

Posted by | Dec 7, 2006 | |

Germany, which will take over the revolving EU presidency for the first half of 2007, plans to reach an agreement between member states on postal liberalisation by the end of June, diplomatic sources told Agence-France Presse.
A European diplomat said Germany has the ‘ambitious goal’ of getting the highly sensitive text approved at a meeting of European ministers in June.
The proposals will also have to be approved by the European Parliament.
On October 18, the commission announced moves to free up the market for letters in Europe, following on from the commission’s 2002 directive on parcels and letters over 50 grams.
Currently, historical operators still hold national monopolies on letters weighing less than 50 grams in Europe, also called the ‘reserved area’.
Germany is seen as one of the member states that has gone furthest with liberalisation of postal services.
In October, Klaus Zumwinkel, chief executive of the Deutsche Post, said ‘Liberalisation that allows healthy competition is the only way forward. We are ready to embrace it’.

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