Tag: Retail Networks

Stamps Increasing by one cent on May 12 (U.S)

Posted by | May 9, 2008 | |

The price for a one-ounce First-Class stamp will increase from 41 to 42 cents on May 12.
Prices for other mailing services, such as Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services (including single-piece Parcel Post), and Special Services will also change (see chart below). The average increase by class of mail is at or below the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
“The Postal Service developed the Forever Stamp for consumers to ease the transition during price changes,” said Postmaster General John Potter. “We encourage Americans to buy Forever Stamps now for 41 cents, because like the name suggests, they are good forever.” The price goes up to 42 cents on May 12.
The Postal Service has sold 5 billion Forever Stamps since the launch last April and plans to have an additional 5 billion in stock to meet the expected demand before the May price change.
Consistent with a new law, prices for mailing services will be adjusted annually each May. The Postal Service plans to provide 90 days’ notice before the price changes each year.
New prices for shipping services, including Express Mail and Priority Mail, will be announced in March. Prices for all postal products and services are available at usps.com/prices.

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Wincor Nixdorf takes over majority stake in IT services provider prosystems and expands outsourcing portfolio

Posted by | May 9, 2008 | |

Effective retroactively from January 1, 2008, Wincor Nixdorf AG has assumed a majority stake and the operative management of prosystems IT GmbH. prosystems, which is headquartered in Bonn, specializes in the provision of IT services in the Sparkassen environment. This new stake is part of Wincor Nixdorf’s targeted expansion of its activities in the area of IT operations management for retail banking. “We’ve seen that the trend toward outsourcing and automation in retail banking continues. So we’re strengthening our outsourcing portfolio with prosystems IT. We already have customers in this area, but we want to attract additional banks with our portfolio so that we can continue to grow,” explains Eckard Heidloff, President and CEO of Wincor Nixdorf AG. For Wincor Nixdorf, this is the second joint venture specializing in the operational management of information technology for branch-related processes.

prosystems IT was created in 2004 when the IT operations of two savings banks, Stadtsparkasse Köln and Kreissparkasse Köln, were merged with the subsidiary of the now amalgamated Sparkasse Bonn and Kreissparkasse Siegburg, PROSERVICE GmbH, and with the SDZ Sparkassen-Dienstezentrum, a savings bank service center. The participating Sparkassen have outsourced large parts of the operational management of their IT to prosystems IT.

prosystems has 223 employees and had sales last fiscal year of approximately 43 million euros.

In the future, Wincor Nixdorf will hold 51% of the interests in prosystems. The remaining interests will be held by Kreissparkasse Köln (20.17%), by Sparkasse KölnBonn (26.38%) and by SDZ Sparkassen-Dienstezentrum (2.45%), which itself is the subsidiary of the savings banks Verbandssparkasse Goch, Sparkasse Wiehl, Stadtsparkasse Wermelskirchen, Stadtsparkasse Bad Honnef and Kreissparkasse Düsseldorf.

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Swiss Post: Competition calls for entrepreneurial freedom

Posted by | May 8, 2008 | |

Swiss Post believes in offering a top-quality basic service. And it intends to do so, efficiently and successfully, even in a postal market completely deregulated by legislation. This is certainly possible, providing Swiss Post is granted the necessary entrepreneurial freedom as part of this new legislation. In its feedback during the consultation process, Swiss Post requested a number of amendments, the most important of which being – in the absence of any state guarantee – the opportunity to determine for itself in which markets it will operate. There was also mention of a banking licence and a basic service mandate without the limitations that result from having to define individual infrastructure elements.
Swiss Post expects this new legislation to completely open up the postal market. Over the coming years, therefore, it wants to develop and thus prove itself capable of providing an efficient basic service in an open market. Thanks to successful restructuring, improved levels of efficiency and positive performance figures in recent years, it is already well on the way to achieving this goal. The current positive results mean that Swiss Post can make important investments in advance of complete market deregulation in what is expected to be just under four years. It can also continue to promote innovation and customer orientation, consolidate the pension fund and compensate the Swiss federal government for capital it provided.

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Best Buy enters Europe with Carphone retail deal

Posted by | May 8, 2008 | |

Best Buy, the world’s biggest electronics retailer, is to pay USD 2.1 billion for half of Britain’s Carphone Warehouse chain to take on the European consumer electricals market.

The deal creates a joint venture business that will compete with DSG International, formerly called Dixons, and Kesa which owns the French group Darty.

Carphone and Best Buy estimate the size of the European market for consumer electronics to be around 89 billion pounds (USD 174 billion).

The pair said the 50-50 owned company would target a growing appetite for consumer electronics, but analysts said the pair are entering a tough market where the incumbents are struggling.

Europe’s biggest independent mobile phone retailer Carphone’s existing 2,400 stores will continue to operate under the Carphone Warehouse and Phone House brands in its nine European markets, and from 2009 the new company will roll out larger stores under the Best Buy name.

Analysts said Best Buy would bring its understanding of the consumer electronics market to Europe, a region it has long wanted to enter, but cautioned that it could take some time to roll out the stores and secure a strong presence.

Best Buy sells consumer electronics, home-office products and entertainment software in the United States, Canada and China. The new company will open Best Buy stores in Britain and other European countries but officials of both companies would not be drawn on numbers.

Best Buy said the venture was expected to be funded through a combination of cash on hand, existing bank lines and other borrowing. It also said it now did not expect to repurchase shares under its existing repurchase program in fiscal 2009.

Best Buy said it expected the deal to add around USD 5 billion to fiscal 2009 revenue. Its 2008 sales are forecast at around USD 43 billion.

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