Tag: Royal Mail

Royal Mail on target to save GBP 300m with SAP (UK)

Posted by | May 22, 2008 | |

Royal Mail is on course to save GBP 300m over three years through efficiencies created by its SAP-based procurement transformation programme.

Central to the project is SAP supplier relationship management (SRM) software and its E-Procurement module.

Royal Mail director of performance and transformation, Daniel Cameron, explained that the SAP software has helped the organisation source items much more efficiently and get better deals.

Cameron’s group put together the business case for the project around two years ago with the aim of making the Royal Mail’s procurement department one of the top three in Western Europe.

Now 18 months into the project, Cameron is confident these ambitious savings targets can still be achieved.

Around half of the savings are expected to come through a reduction on operational expenditure with the rest coming from lower capital expenditure.

The rollout of the e-procurement technology has seen the introduction of small chunks, each of which has been well received, according to Cameron.

Royal Mail already runs its business applications on an SAP backbone and so the decision to use technology from the German business software giant for the procurement project was an obvious one.

The e-procurement platform was developed by SRM specialist Frictionless Commerce, which SAP acquired just over two years ago.

Royal Mail also uses the SAP financial application and plans to upgrade to SAP’s SRM 7.0 and add a supplier collaboration module in the near future.

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Business Post Plans Faster Letter Delivery

Posted by | May 22, 2008 | |

Business Post, the parcels and postal delivery group, is to launch a letters service in the summer that will guarantee next-day delivery anywhere in the UK.

Customers will send letters over the internet to UK Mail, a Business Post subsidiary, which will print them in color at depots close to the destinations. The company will then put the letters in envelopes and hand them over to Royal Mail for delivery over “the final mile”.

The iMail service could reduce the carbon footprint of a letter by up to 80 per cent, Business Post said. It will also appeal to big corporate users that are keen to reduce emissions produced by their businesses.

“It will also allow us to offer our service to consumers and small businesses whose mailing requirements are too small for our existing services”, said Guy Buswell, chief executive.

UK Mail has doubled its share of the British postal market for the second year running. It collects and sorts about 11 per cent of mail before passing it on to Royal Mail for delivery to homes and businesses around the country.

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Royal Mail marketing head to leave after restructure (UK)

Posted by | May 22, 2008 | |

Royal Mail Marketing Director Alex Batchelor is leaving at the end of next month following a restructure of the marketing team.

His departure comes about a month before group strategy director Alex Smith takes over as Strategy and Commercial Director. Batchelor, who had been in the role for three years, would have reported into Smith in his new role.

It is thought that Smith will take over responsibilty for marketing, including overseeing its agencies, Abbot Mead Vickers.BBDO and OMD. Royal Mail completed a review of its advertising last month, retaining AMV.

Batchelor was poached by Royal Mail from Orange, where he was Vice President of Global Brand at Orange. He joined the mobile operator in 2001 from brand consultancy Interbrand. He has also worked at Unilever and Saatchi & Saatchi.

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Postcomm agrees changes to Royal Mail's retail compensation schemes

Posted by | May 21, 2008 | |

Postcomm today agreed Royal Mail’s proposed changes to its retail compensation arrangements for lost, damaged and delayed mail.

The key changes, which will come into effect on 1 August 2008, are:

For items posted with Royal Mail which have no intrinsic value (for example a 1st or 2nd class letter), or where a claimant cannot provide proof of posting, there will be compensation for loss, damage and delay of a minimum of six 1st class stamps (currently worth GBP 2.16);
For items that have an intrinsic value, with proof of posting with Royal Mail and proof of value (such as an invoice or receipt) customers will be entitled to a postage refund plus compensation for actual loss up to the value of the item, or 100 1st class stamps (currently GBP 36), whichever is the lowest;
compensation for delayed retail mail will become payable one day earlier than at present – three working days after the due delivery date instead of four;
GBP 5 and GBP 10 payments for delay and substantial delay will be discontinued, except for Special Delivery Next Day (not posted on account);
Redirected retail mail will now be eligible for compensation for delay; and
users of the Articles for the Blind service will now be able to claim compensation for loss, damage and delay.
The new compensation arrangements simplify and align the processes for making a claim, the evidence required to support a claim, and the compensation payments themselves.

Royal Mail estimates that the new arrangements will result in a slight overall increase in the total compensation payable under the retail scheme.

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Business Post wants Royal Mail segregation (UK)

Posted by | May 21, 2008 | |

Parcels to post group Business Post hit forecasts for last year with good growth in its UK mail arm and a recovery by its parcels division.

Revenues grew by 10.1% to GBP 358.6m with profit before tax at GBP 14.2m, up 44.9% on last year. This profit increase was achieved despite the termination of the Federal Express contract in April 2007 Business Post said. Adding that back, revenue rose by 16.5%.

UK mail revenues jumped by 52% to GBP 137m with profits up by 56% to GBP 10m. Business Post added it has written to the government’s review of the postal market suggesting that the selling and distribution elements of Royal Mail be segregated. “We believe this proposal will incentivise the Royal Mail network to become more efficient and profitable,” it said.

Revenues in Parcels were up 2% for the year on a like-for-like basis (excluding FedEx). Reported revenues were 7.2% lower at GBP 179.8m (2007: GBP 193.8m). Parcel’s operating profit increased by 2% to GBP 15.4m. Specialist Services operating profits reduced by 35% to GBP 1.3m as the courier business was reorganised.

The start of the new financial year has been encouraging with trading in the early weeks in line with management’s expectations. The dividend for the year is unchanged at 17.2p.

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