The Future of Posts
DELIVERING CHANGE IN THE WORLD OF POSTS
Thank you
to those who participated in the The Future of Posts Survey
WELCOME The views of those who work in Posts are of valuable importance in helping us continue to understand and meet the needs and demands of Postal Organizations all over the world.
A
s an integral part of your postal business, you understand better than anyone what it takes to be successful in today’s rapidly changing postal environment. The information received through this survey is representative of the breadth of knowledge, insight, and foresight postal workers possess. Their views and recommendations are of valuable importance in helping us continue to understand and meet the needs and demands of Postal Organizations all over the world. We are honored to have the opportunity to share the results of our survey with you. This document represents the culmination of expert views by postal professionals, just like you, from all over the world. We trust you will find it both enlightening and a testament to the important and vital work you do every day. Listening to our customers and postal professionals is the most important element in Escher’s ability to continue to support, advise and nurture the needs of our postal customers. As we continue our work at Escher to develop new, innovative postal technologies, this survey will serve as an integral part of our knowledge base in supporting our mission. On behalf of myself and the entire Escher team, thank you for your time and support in this endeavor. Regards,
Fionnuala Higgins Chief Commercial Officer, Escher Group
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The Future of Posts
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As a total solutions provider to the postal industry, we understand Posts and the climate they operate in. But we have an eye on the future of the industry, so we reached out to our network of Postal Organizations around the world to see what they think about the current postal landscape, and perhaps most importantly, the trends that are coming down the line.
The growth of mobile shows no sign of abating with more than three quarters (77 percent) of mail carriers now equipped with a mobile device. Likewise, 95 percent of Posts either offer or plan to deliver a consumer postal app.
Digital mail is one of the innovations that Posts are most excited by, with 89 percent of respondents either currently offering or planning to offer digital mail products.
When it comes to innovation, Deutsche Post, Swiss Post and Singapore Post are the three organizations most admired by the postal industry.
With 21 percent of the overall votes, Deutsche Post emerged as the most-admired Post.
Outside of the postal industry, Amazon, Google and Apple were the top three most-admired organizations for innovation – with Amazon narrowly coming out on top.
The Future of Posts
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CURRENT TRENDS W
e have seen a huge increase in packages and returns, in part because of the growth in eCommerce. This has presented Posts with a huge opportunity and the results of this survey show that they are making plans to capitalize on that.
ALMOST HALF OF POSTS PLAN A DIGITAL MAIL OFFERING
As part of this survey, we asked Postal Organizations how likely they are to grow their physical presence. 42 percent of Posts expect to experience growth (marking 6-10) in the next decade. Expanding physical presence includes the opening of new branches, logistics operations and sorting offices so it shows that Posts are ready to expand their offerings in order to reap the rewards of the new postal ecosystem.
Using a secure digital mail solution, Postal Organizations can distribute government communications to citizens e.g. tax, fees, licenses and grants, and other documentation that contains personal information.
When it comes to the new offerings, one of the expansions that may have a transformative effect on Posts is digital mail.
For governments, these digital mail solutions are more cost-effective and less wasteful and tie into initiatives to reform public service. For Posts, digital mail represents a valuable new revenue stream and opportunity.
“89%
41 percent of Posts currently use digital mail but a further 48 percent say that they plan on rolling it out in the future. The survey results suggest that Posts think that digital mail presents a significant opportunity for the future.
of Posts are currently using or plan to use digital mail.”
Does your Post offer digital mail services? Yes, we offer digital mail services
40.74%
No, but we have a plan to offer digital mail services within the next 12 months
20.37%
No, but it is on our road map No, we do not plan to offer digital mail services
27.78% 11.11%
0%
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The Future of Posts
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
“98%
of mail carriers either currently carry or plan to carry mobile devices.”
One of the major transformations in the postal world in this digital era has been the expansion of the mail carrier’s role. More than three quarters (77 percent) of mail carriers are now equipped with a mobile device which enables them to offer a wide array of services to customers at their doorstep. From simple stamp selling to package pick-up and returns, this is an area that Posts can use to generate extra revenue with minimal outlay.
Does your mail carrier carry a mobile device? Yes, all of our mail carriers carry a mobile device
48.08%
Yes, some of our mail carriers carry a mobile device
28.85%
No, but we have a plan to implement within the next 12 months
5.77%
No, but it is on our road map No, we do not plan to offer that service at any time
15.38% 1.92%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
The Future of Posts
05
OPPORTUNITY TO EXPAND SERVICES OFFERED Despite potential growth opportunities, only 10 percent of Posts said that they offer a “wide array of services” at the doorstep. While almost 60 percent of Posts offer “some services,” there is a significant opportunity to expand the range offered.
Do your mobile workers provide services at the doorstep (pay bills, sell stamps, pick-up packages) or conduct health and safety? Yes, we offer a wide range of services
9.62%
Yes, we offer some services No, but we have a plan to implement such services within the next 12 months
59.60%
No, but it is on our road map
11.54%
No, we do not plan to offer that service at any time
9.62% 9.62%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Consumer apps are seeing growth too: 55 percent of Posts surveyed offer an app, with a further 40 percent saying that they have plans to offer an app in the future. Again, this is a move towards offering the consumer more choice. With 95 percent of Postal Organizations either offering or planning to offer an app, it’s clear to see that Posts are ready to make the most of this opportunity.
Does your Post offer a consumer app? Yes, we offer a consumer app
55.10%
No, but we have a plan to offer a consumer app within the next 12 months No, but it is on our road map
20.41%
No, we do not plan to offer a consumer app at any time
20.41% 4.08%
0%
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The Future of Posts
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
The move towards registered customers is at the forefront of postal services, according to the survey results. 98 percent of Posts either have registered customers or plan on having registered customers. Only 2 percent of Postal Organizations have no plans for registered customers.
Does your Post have registered customers? Yes, we have registered customers
81.64%
No, but we have a plan to implement it within the next 12 months
6.12%
No, but it is on our road map No, we do not plan to offer that service at any time
10.20% 2.04%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
The Future of Posts
100%
07
“78%
of all Posts either offer or plan to offer financial services to their customers.�
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The Future of Posts
When it comes to digging into data analytics, just over half (51 percent) of Postal Organizations are currently using data analytics. 40 percent of organizations are planning on implementing some data analytics into their business. Only 8 percent of respondents say they won’t be implementing data analytics.
Does your postal organization use data analytics for customer awareness? We use data analytics
51.02%
We don’t use data analytics but we have a plan to implement within the next 12 months
18.37%
We don’t use data analytics but it is on our road map
22.45%
We do not plan to utilize data analytics
8.16%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Almost 11 percent of Posts say they offer a “wide range” of financial services like bill pay, insurance and Forex. A further 54 percent offer some services, meaning a total of 65 percent of Posts are offering financial services. Digging deeper into the responses, 41 percent of Posts are actively planning to increase the range of financial services they offer customers, while only 23 percent of Posts do not offer or plan to offer such services to their customers.
Besides money transfer, does your Post offer consumer financial services? Yes, we offer a wide range of financial services
10.53%
Yes, we offer some financial services
26.32%
Yes, we offer some financial services and plan to increase offerings No, but we have a plan to implement within the next 12 months
28.07%
No, but it is on our road map
1.75%
No, we do not plan to offer those services at any time
10.53% 22.80%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
The Future of Posts
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FUTURE TRENDS I
t is an exciting time in the evolution of Posts. Many Postal Organizations around the world are leveraging their reputation to become the trusted partner to governments. Digital Mail (covered on page 4 of this report) and Digital ID are both becoming increasingly important to Posts. Digital ID can authenticate, authorize and maintain user identities across federated websites. It includes registration, profile management and geo-location address verification. The results of this survey show that 26 percent of Posts currently offer Digital ID services. A further 52 percent have plans to implement Digital ID – with a fifth of that number planning on rolling out Digital ID in the next 12 months.
Does your Post offer Digital ID?
Yes, we offer Digital ID 25.93%
No, but we have a plan to implement within the next 12 months 11.11%
No, but it is on our road map No, we do not plan to offer Digital ID at any time
40.74% 22.22%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
When it comes to loyalty schemes, 14 percent of Posts say they currently have a successful loyalty program. 39 percent of respondents plan to implement a loyalty scheme. A further 10 percent of Posts have either tried a loyalty scheme, discontinued it, or are unhappy with their current program. 37 percent of Posts say that they have no plans to implement a loyalty scheme.
Does your Post offer a loyalty program?
Yes, we successfully offer a loyalty program 14.29%
Yes, we offer loyalty but we are not finding it successful
6.12%
We used to offer a loyalty program but discontinued it No, but we have a plan to implement within the next 12 months
4.08%
No, but it is on our road map
8.16%
No, we do not plan to offer that service at any time
30.61% 36.74%
0%
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10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
The Future of Posts
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FUTURE TRENDS ECOMMERCE
FUTURE TRENDS FIRST-TIME DELIVERY
Posts overwhelmingly say that eCommerce will have a massive impact on the postal business in the next decade. Posts also overwhelmingly think that related items like mobile devices, community post boxes and parcel lockers will have a significant impact on the postal environment.
81 percent of Posts say that first-time delivery is of great importance (marking 7-10). This ties into the importance of eCommerce, as the re-delivery of parcels in particular is a significant cost for Posts.
When it comes to eCommerce giants (Amazon, eBay, Alibaba etc.), Posts are generally positive in their attitude. 47 percent of Posts think that such companies present a significant opportunity (marking 8-10) to their business. Only 7 percent of Posts think that the eCommerce giants present a large (marking 1-2) threat to the postal business.
On a scale of 1-10*, do the eCommerce giants (Amazon, eBay, Alibaba) present a threat or opportunity to Posts? *Where 1 is a significant threat, and 10 is the greatest amount of opportunity
7.0 “69%
of Posts said that first mile processing is significantly important (7-10).�
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The Future of Posts
On a scale of 1-10*, how important is first time delivery/customer interaction to your Post? *Where 1 represents the least amount of importance, and 10 represents the greatest amount of importance
8.1 In addition to the 81 percent of Posts that think first-time delivery is of great importance (marking 7-10), a further 69 percent think that first mile parcel processing is also of great importance when it comes to eCommerce.
On a scale of 1-10*, for eCommerce how important do you think first mile parcel processing is? *Where 1 represents the least amount of importance, and 10 represents the greatest amount of importance
7.5
On a scale of 1-10*, how much impact do you think the following will have on Posts in the next 10 years? *Where 1 is the least amount of impact, and 10 is the greatest amount of impact
9.5
9.3
eCommerce
8.3
Mobile Devices
8.3
Omnichannel
7.8
Data Analytics
7.5
Parcel Lockers
7.3
Digital ID
7.3
Community Post Boxes
7.0
Digital Mail
Financial Services
6.8
Loyalty
4.4
Drones
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FUTURE TRENDS MOBILE The importance of mobile devices for Posts shows no sign of slowing down – which isn’t unexpected given the general boom and development in the mobile world. For example, the latest generation of Apple iPhones can perform instructions 120 million times faster than the supercomputers which guided the first Apollo missions to the moon. With that sort of computing power at their fingers, it’s no surprise that the mobile revolution is making an impact on both postal customers and postal workers. In terms of the future of mobile, 21 percent plan to give their mail carriers a mobile device while 77 percent are already equipped with a mobile device. 40 percent of Posts have active plans to offer a consumer app, though Posts are mixed about adding in-store advertising to a consumer app.
“40%
of Posts are actively developing mobile consumer apps.”
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The Future of Posts
On a scale of 1-10*, how much interest do you have in putting in-store advertising on a consumer app? *Where 1 is the least amount of interest, and 10 is the greatest amount of interest
5.1
REVERSE LOGISTICS A
whopping 88 percent of Posts think that parcel levels will increase over the next decade. This partly explains the findings on page 4 of this report, where Posts are planning physical expansion of their businesses. At current levels, 46 percent of Posts say that reverse logistics represent between 10-50 percent of their business with 43 percent saying that it represents less than 10 percent. 11 percent of Posts have broken past the 50 percent barrier. However, saying that reverse logistics represents between 50 and 75 percent of their business.
What is your best guess for the percentage of your share of reverse logistics to your Postal Organization? Under 10%
10 - 25%
25 - 50%
50 - 75%
43.18%
75 - 100%
22.73% 22.73% 11.36%
0%
10%
On a scale of 1-10*, how much opportunity do you see in reverse logistics? *Where 1 is the least amount of opportunity, and 10 is the greatest amount of opportunity
5.9
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL IS BEING FELT ALREADY
One major finding is clear: Posts will be going increasingly digital over the coming years, with a reliance on smart tech, apps, and mobile devices. The majority of Posts are well positioned, already offering a wide range of services – or intending to implement services in the future. Digital services will become increasingly important for Posts, as they move to position themselves as a partner to eCommerce.
The Future of Posts
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METHODOLOGY E
scher is the trusted partner to Posts, and no company is better equipped to assess the current state of the postal industry and predict future trends. During July and August 2017, we conducted an online survey of Postal leaders worldwide. Results were collected across four weeks, from 17/07/2017 to 14/08/2017, with 58 respondents from over 25 countries giving key insights into the current and future landscape for global Posts. ON ROUNDING In all instances, we rounded up percentiles above .5 and down for less than .5. ON WEIGHTED AVERAGES This applies to questions with ranking answers from 1-10 wherein the points are on an incremental scale and, therefore, are not considered equal. The more significant/important an answer, the higher the rating. The more insignificant or non-relevant an option, the closer it is to 1. Points from 1-5 are considered non-impactful to somewhat impactful, while 6-10 represents options considered impactful, to significantly impactful/important, unless otherwise stated. The more important the option is to a respondent, the more weight is attributed to it (and vice versa). Five is the mid-point. Weighted averages above five are more positive in sentiment than weighted averages less than five.
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The Future of Posts
Total Solutions Provider for Posts
Transform every touchpoint into a friendly, easy to use Point of Service.
Grow your postal network reach quickly and seamlessly through third party outlets.
to the doorstep.
The Future of Posts
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IF YOU STILL WANT ANSWERS...
ABOUT YOUR POSTAL ORGANIZATION’S FUTURE AND WHAT YOU NEED TO MOVE FORWARD THEN
CALL ESCHER DIRECTLY Dublin: +353 1 254 5400 Boston: +1 857 366 9500 Singapore: +65 6745 7745 South Africa: +27 12 940 5000 Washington DC: +1 703 579 1300 sales@eschergroup.com www.eschergroup.com
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The Future of Posts