Tag: IMRG

Posts have about 500 days left to grasp the opportunities being offered to them by e-commerce, estimates James ROPER, head of a global e-retail intelligence firm based in the United Kingdom.

Speaking at the UPU’s World Postal Business Forum, as part of POST-EXPO 2008, ROPER said e-retailing represented a “huge opportunity” and deplored Posts’ “inertia” in responding to this immense challenge.

Roper urged postal operators to act now in order to become “the” deliverers of choice for merchandise purchased online.

He stressed that Posts could play an important role in resolving the trust issue that still plagues the development of e-retailing. Posts must leverage their reputation as trusted third partners and their extensive networks to benefit from e-commerce, which is expected to increase dramatically over the next few years. Research shows that some 20% of the world’s population, or 1.4 billion people, already use the Internet, and an estimated 90% of sales will be affected by the Internet by 2020.

For that reason, ROPER strongly supported the UPU’s .post initiative, which aims to give the worldwide postal sector a unique secure and trusted identity on the Internet.